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Lightning Strikes Crown Heights School

By  Sonja Sharp and Wil Cruz | May 24, 2012 3:15pm 

Witnesses at P.S. 167 in Crown Heights said they saw a flash and felt the building rock on May 24, 2012.
Witnesses at P.S. 167 in Crown Heights said they saw a flash and felt the building rock on May 24, 2012.
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DNAinfo/Sonja Sharp

CROWN HEIGHTS — Lightning struck a school on Brooklyn's Eastern Parkway, frightening students and sending bricks tumbling from the chimney, officials said.

Students inside P.S. 167, The Parkway, at 1025 Eastern Parkway, said they saw a flash of light and felt a shudder when the bolt of lightning struck the building at 1:40 p.m. No one was injured, an FDNY spokeswoman said.

"I was in the auditorium," said student Jamari Cannon-Baily, 10, as he left the school with his mom Thursday afternoon. "It sounded like a gunshot. They said to sit down and duck."

The bolt of lightning rocked the building, causing a partial collapse of a chimney, fire and Department of Education officials said.

"There was some debris on the roof on the courtyard side," DOE spokesman Marge Feinberg said. "No one was outside at the time."

Lightning struck a school at 1025 Eastern Parkway on May 24, 2012.
Lightning struck a school at 1025 Eastern Parkway on May 24, 2012.
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Flickr/Bruce Guenter

Officials cordoned off the yard as a precaution, Feinberg said.

Chea Cannon, 29, Jamari's mom, said the initial shock worried her but she was relieved that none of the children were hurt.

"I was scared, but I see that they're OK," she said. "It's bad when anything hits a school building, but they didn't evacuate the building."

Still, Cannon feared that Friday's rainy forecast could bring more problems, and considered keeping her children home from school.

"I'm worrying now since it's going to rain tomorrow," she said. "Do I let them go to school?"