LITTLE ROCK — Around 5:30 p.m. Sunday, the Rev. Thompson Murray said, he was listening to the sweet melodies of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s performance of “Beethoven & Blue Jeans” when he got a startling phone call from an artist who rents a studio at the Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church.
“[He said] lightning struck the chimney and blew bricks through the roof. That was not what I wanted to hear,” said Murray, the church’s senior pastor. “He was frantic. He was afraid water was coming into the studio and ruining his artwork.”
Around 4:30 p.m. during Sunday storms in Little Rock, lightning struck the church’s chimney, causing bricks to litter the rooftop, while some broke through into the attic on the fifth floor and a stairwell. The third and fourth floors had water damage, while the sanctuary ceiling had one or two holes. The chimney sits about 60 to 70 feet above the ground.
“There were bricks that flew into the alley,” Murray said. “A brick flew through the roof and through the ceiling below. They didn’t just fall off the chimney, they were blasted off.”
The church, at 1601 S. Louisiana St. in Little Rock, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. It was built in 1921 and originally called the Winfield Methodist Church.
Murray was told by Little Rock Fire Department officials that there was no fire and that an off-duty police officer had seen the lightning strike and immediately reported it.
“He just looked up and saw it,” Murray said, adding he’d like to find out who the officer was. “It must have been a sight to see, raining bricks.”
The Rev. Anne Armstrong Holcomb, the church’s associate pastor, said she missed about seven phone calls about the incident while she was at the movies watching the newest James Bond installment.
“Skyfall,” Holcomb said, with a slight laugh.
Murray said he was there with emergency repair crews until around midnight. On Monday morning, a roofing company surveyed the damage, but Murray said they were waiting on the insurance adjuster for a price estimate.
“We’re insured,” Murray said. “We’ll see how the money plays out.”
About 100 gallons of water had to be diverted from hallways, said William Powell, an employee of Servpro of Central Little Rock who was helping to clear the water.
The phone and Internet connections were down Monday, but the main electrical system was unscathed as the lightning bolt traveled to the ground through the water, a fireman told Murray.
Even by late Monday afternoon, Murray was still fielding phone calls from maintenance people and concerned church members.
“Many people assume the worst: ‘Did it destroy the building?’” Murray said. “I’ve tried to reassure people it’s fixable.”
Murray said no one was injured. Only one artist was in the building at the time of the strike, working in her studio.
“The corner of the chimney, it’s sheared off,” Murray said. “There’s just a large amount of debris.”
Nothing significant was pelted by the falling bricks, and no church services or activities will be interrupted, Murray said.
“We’re just glad nobody got hurt,” Murray said. “It’s bricks and mortar. We can fix it. Not the kind of act of God we want to see on a Sunday.”
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 11/13/2012