If you were anywhere across the Jersey Shore on Wednesday afternoon you heard the thunder, saw the lighting and watched as the rain poured down with steamy smoke coming from the roads.
At the same time, the lightning strikes became dangerously violent.
A home on Beckerville Road in Whiting was struck by lightning Wednesday afternoon causing it to catch fire.
When Manchester Police arrived around 2:48 pm, the home was fully engulfed in flames.
Nobody was inside the home at the time but two cats, a bird and several reptiles were and tragically did not survive the fire.
Firefighters from the Whiting, Manchester, and Ridgeway Volunteer Fire Departments as well, firefighters from nearby Lakehurst, Joint Base, Cassville, Whitesville, and Forked River Fire Departments responded to the scene and extinguished the fire.