Lightning strikes Rancho Cucamonga woman's car, shatters back windshield

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. (KABC) -- A trip home from the post office turned into a terrifying ordeal for a Rancho Cucamonga woman when her vehicle was struck by lightning Thursday.

"I saw this big yellow flash and then this boom!" Laurie Blunk said. "I thought at first that it was a gunshot and so everything was OK. I looked in my rearview mirror and saw that something was wrong with the back window and it was completely shattered."

Rolling thunder and bolts of lightning lit up the sky across the Southland as a powerful winter storm moved through.

In La Tuna Canyon, a dramatic helicopter rescue took place after workers were stranded in thick mud. The two general services workers were airlifted to safety after their truck got caught in a mudslide across the road.

In Lake Elsinore, workers cleared the road below the Holy Fire burn area as deputies went door-to-door warning residents they were under mandatory evacuations. But later Thursday evening, those orders were canceled as the severity of the storm was over.

"It came through pretty quick. It didn't rain too hard and they'd been doing a good job of keeping that wash clean," resident Norman Bacher said.

Back in Rancho Cucamonga, Blunk counts her blessings that she wasn't injured in her freak encounter with Mother Nature. She's well aware of the odds of being struck by lightning while driving.

"One in 700,000 in a year and one in 3,000 in a lifetime. So my odds are over - I'm good. Everyone is teasing me to get a lottery ticket," she said.