Plumbing history is thought to have been made this weekend as lightening ignited the gas in a couple’s septic tank and made their toilet explode.
Naturally, this event took place in the home of bizarre headlines – Florida.
The lightening burst the septic tank while the couple were in bed on Sunday (August 4) and as a result the toilet in the house shattered, ‘sending porcelain airborne like a missile’.
The entire plumbing system at MaryLou Ward’s home was ruined and so she and her husband turned to A-1 Affordable Plumbing Inc. to help get their bathroom back up and running.
The business shared images of the disaster zone on Facebook and wrote ‘no more pooping while it’s storming outside.’
So why exactly did the toilet in the house explode, I hear you ask? Jordan Hagadorn, owner of A-1 Affordable Plumbing Inc. told USA Today:
Methane gas is gas caused by the number two. The natural gas is from crap, literally.
The septic tank’s lid was only an inch underground and it’s thought the short distance between the surface and the tank could have contributed to the possibility of it exploding. As lightening struck the tank it acted as the perfect catalyst to ignite the natural methane gas, which travelled up the sewer pipes and led to a big mess in the bathroom.
Speaking to WTHR about the explosion, Ward said it was ‘the loudest noise [she’d] ever heard’.
She added:
We got out of bed and came over here, and the toilet was laying on the floor.
The Facebook post revealed porcelain had penetrated into the wall as the toilet exploded; even parts of the windows had blown out from the force of the gas.
It took Hagadorn three hours to assess the damage on Monday and he expects fixing the toilet to be a big job. Neither he nor his father, who was a plumber for 40 years, have ever seen anything like the explosion. The plumber said it’s probably ‘a first in plumbing history.’
Hagadorn recommended people don’t use the toilet during a thunderstorm and Ward is certainly on board with that idea.
She said:
I’m not taking any showers and not going to the bathroom. Not when it’s thunderstorming and down here, that’s a lot.
Lightening isn’t the first thing that springs to mind when someone mentions having explosive gas and toilet problems but it’s certainly a more dramatic take on the situation!
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.