Lightning apparently struck the East Market food hall on Columbus' Near East Side Sunday night, igniting a fire in the roof.
An extremely loud boom shook the neighborhood at 10:58 p.m.
"It was like a sonic boom, but it was like all the way down to the bottom of the building," said Michael Jayne, who was in the Railhouse Bar on the south side of the market at the time. "You could feel it like no matter where you were."
Jayne said the power went out for a few minutes, then came back on. He and the bartender, Tommy Feisel, thought everything was alright at the building on Kelton Avenue near Franklin Park.
"And then I happened to glance at the window and see flickering light and looked up over the rafters to see that the roof was actually on fire," Feisel said.
The men believe they were the only people in the building. Both got out safely. They say Columbus firefighters arrived quickly.
Neighbors gathered in the pouring rain to watch firefighters saw holes in the roof as they battled the blaze. Smoke billowed from the historic building, and small flames rose through one spot on the roof.
Minaugh Sheets lives near the market. She didn't see the lightning strike, but she heard it.
"I was in my room playing on my phone and then a flash of lightning and a very loud boom happened. My whole room lit up in whites and my cat ran. It was really scary," Sheets said.
She said the recent severe weather was "not great" and that the roof of the building she lives in was damaged in the severe wind storm on March 14.
Firefighters spent several hours dousing the blaze at the East Market. It's unclear how much damage the fire caused or when the market will reopen.
The East Market opened in 2022 in a historic barn that once housed the city's trolleys. It is home to a variety of food vendors, two bars and a few retailers. The upper rafters contain seating, arcade games and a computer station.
Jayne, a regular patron of the market, called it a "staple" of the neighborhood.
"I hope that they are able to get it handled quickly and get the building back open quickly because this, I meant this is this building that the East Market really holds the neighborhood together."
Sunday night's severe weather also knocked out power for thousands of central Ohioans and rained large hail on parts of the region.
The temperature dropped rapidly after a record-breaking warm day on Sunday. The National Weather Service in Wilmington reports that it was 86 degrees in Columbus, one degree warmer than the previous record in 2012.
Cincinnati and Dayton also set temperature records Sunday.
