Lucie County Fire District responded to a house fire at the 900 block of Bellevue Avenue in Port St. Lucie on Friday evening during severe weather. At the time of the storm, radar picked up a significant amount of lightning in the area. The district said it cannot confirm the cause, as the fire marshal's office still needs to investigate.
The fire occurred as Port St. Lucie experienced heavy rain and lightning activity. WPTV weather spotters captured video of heavy rain moving through the area, and Merry Moore O'Rourke said her rain gauge caught over 3 inches.
Earlier, Lucie County Fire District crews contained a brush fire near the 1900 block of Castinet Lane after reports that a lightning strike ignited vegetation in a nearby lot. Moore O'Rourke described the conditions, saying the sky got black, the wind started raging, and the sky had lit up like she had not seen. She called the storms radical and a little scary.