A Tamiami apartment went up in flames in southwest Miami-Dade after it was reportedly struck by lightning during bad weather Friday afternoon.
The lightning strike turned into flames, smoke and a lot damage for the apartment building. Charred up furniture and blackened walls are what's left of the ashy, dilapidated apartment.
"Really loud, you know, like a bomb and it was two," said Yaneisy Rodriguez, who saw the lightning strike.
Neighbors said they heard two big booms of thunder and then saw the smoke and flames coming out of the apartment at the Playa Lago Condominiums.
"When we arrived we saw flames exiting the windows and the door," said Captain Julio Melendez with the Miami-Dade Fire Department.
The homeowner said nobody was in the apartment at the time, but his family was in tears when they saw their house in this condition.
Firefighters rushed to put out the blaze. The fire did not spread, but other apartments got soaked from the water.
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"There's still a lot of water damage because it was a busted pipe in there but, you know, nobody got hurt, that's the important thing," Melendez said.
The fire chief said while there are reports of lightning, the official cause of the fire is still under investigation.
