[wccrawford]

I was similarly close to a lightning streak, on the other side of an outside wall of our house. I remember that there was a boom, and I didn't realize it at first, but I lost my hearing. I remember running to the hallway and screaming to my sister at the other end of the hall, "Shut off the power!" I read her lips, "I don't know where it is" or something, and ended up running past her to throw off the main breakers.

I actually don't know if that was necessary or not, because I'm pretty sure all the relevant breakers had already been thrown.

Anyhow, point is that I remember hearing a boom and then nothing. I wonder if I was closer, or not protected by the wall, if noise would have been so loud that I lost my hearing immediately, instead of hearing the boom first?

My hearing came back over the next 5-10 minutes, IIRC.