DE SOTO, Mo. – Cheryl and Mark Holdinghaus were just about to head downstairs at their home in De Soto to take shelter when lightning struck.  

They saw what they described as the brightest light they ever saw and then heard what sounded like gunfire.

 Mark was sitting in his living room chair when he suddenly felt as if his face was on fire.

“I had blood just gushing out of my face,” he said.

The couple discovered a plug from a vacuum that was plugged into an electrical outlet shattered and flew out of the wall. Another plug that was resting nearby also shattered and flew across the room.

The flying debris struck Mark on his cheek and Cheryl was hit in the leg. 

“We were lucky that it didn’t hit Mark in the eye, because that could have been a lot worse,” she said.  

The fire department responded and did some thermal image testing to make sure there were no fires behind the wall. 

More traditional storm damage was found in other parts of Jefferson County.

“The winds turned from the west to the east and that’s when the hail got real large,” Jefferson County resident Keith Ray said.

Zach Wilde owns Wilde Lawn Service. Two of his work trucks had substantial hail damage and even the side of his work trailer was peppered with indentations from hail.

“It looked like it snowed, literally,” Wilde said. “I mean, it was four, five, inches deep in places.”

He said the damage comes at the worst possible time as springtime is the busiest season.