St. Augustine family's minivan hit by lightning while driving on I-4

Mother Nature is unpredictable and a St. Augustine family had an unimaginable close encounter with her strength.

Tina Lewis received the biggest jolt of her life when lightning hit her family's van and two other cars on I-4 near Lakeland last month.

“It was an instantaneous flash of light and thunder,” said Tina Lewis. “My husband realized we have no power steering, we couldn’t brake and we had no acceleration. We had nothing."

Lewis’ husband Chris was driving. He said the odds were in their favor and miraculously nobody was injured.

“What are the odds to get struck by lightning?” he said.

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All three cars were zapped and one of them took the brunt of the hit.

Lewis told us the vehicle that was immediately next to them had a hole in the roof where the antenna was and the entire back window was shattered by the strike.

The family’s Honda Odyssey shared 93,000 miles by a family of five.

Now, the only keepsake they have of the car is the 8th seat that they took out before the incident occurred.

Recently, their minivan was claimed as a total loss. From the exterior, the van appears to be fine, but the family say the lightning surge fried the electronics.

“If you looked at a picture of our van from the outside there is no burn marks there,” said Chris Lewis.

For Tina, she’s glad her husband didn’t crack under pressure.

“First off, I married the right guy. You never know what’s going to happen under pressure until it happens. He remained remarkably calm.”

Cox Media Group