One time when I was small, there was a huge lightning storm in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles where we lived. Lightning hit the transformer on the power pole outside our house, and it traveled down the wire into the house, took out the power and fried a clock in my parent's bedroom and several electrical outlets and some lamps. It was a BIG BANG that woke us all up. I'll never forget it, and that was probably 50 years ago or more.