A lightning storm caused a three-story apartment complex on Millhaven Place off Cloppers Mill Drive near Great Seneca Highway in Germantown to be set ablaze Tuesday night.

/ Montgomery County Fire and EMS

Dozens of Montgomery County residents were displaced when a bolt of lightning struck and set an condo building ablaze as thunderstorms stretched across most of the region Tuesday night.

The fire at the three-story condo complex on Millhaven Place in Germantown, Md., started around 5 p.m. According to video from Montgomery County Fire and Rescue, the fire began on the roof of the building, which collapsed. Twenty five residents from the building’s 12 units were evacuated. No serious injuries have been reported, but two firefighters were transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Peter Piringer, a spokesperson for MCFRS, told DCist/WAMU Wednesday morning that investigators concluded that a lightning strike during Tuesday’s storms started the fire.

“Crews arrived to find smoke and fire evidence from the top level and went to work extinguishing it,” Fire Chief Scott Goldstein said in a statement via Twitter video from the scene on Tuesday evening.

The fire caused an estimated $2 million in structural damage to the building, according to MCFRS. Piringer said Wednesday that the building’s management has relocated some of the 25 displaced residents to other condos in the complex. At least eight residents are being provided emergency assistance through the county’s emergency management department, in partnership with the Red Cross.

The same lightning storms Tuesday night also left tens of thousands of other residents without power. Dominion Energy reported more than 65,000 power outages for residents in Northern Virginia and Pepco reported more than 2,700 outages for residents in D.C. and the Maryland suburbs.

Metro’s Orange Line in Virginia was temporarily suspended between Vienna and East Falls Church after a power outage at the West Falls Church station, according to the Washington Post. There were crowds of passengers at some stations and shuttle buses were provided.

As of Wednesday morning, more than 11,000 residents in Northern Virginia and dozens in D.C. and the Maryland suburbs are still without power. Pepco is estimating it can restore service between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. tonight. Metro train service, meanwhile, has been restored on the Orange Line in Virginia with brief delays around Dunn Loring Station due to power problems. Trains were running normally by 8 a.m., according to the Post.

Filed Under: Maryland, thunderstorm,