My longwire antenna arcing out on the radiator in the house during a huge storm

I could hear loud cracking noises from upstairs I couldn't see anything wrong so I turned my back on the 50 meter wire and sat at the computer all of a sudden CRACK I turned round and saw the wire arcing out for about 3 seconds....It sounded like a welder sparking.
I tied a long bit of string on the end so not to loose the end of my antenna but I got a belt in the process.
I think this was actually static from a near strike but was still enough to make my vision go dark round the edges.
I was straight on the phone to warn others in the path of the storm to remove coax from radios and DO NOT touch longwire antennas!
This was a BIG eye opener to me and now I can see how dangerous our hobbie can be.
Be safe and good DX guys
M6RKY

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