I live in Pennsylvania and about 15 years ago I came back home after a severe thunderstorm. Lightning must have struck very close to the house. Everything in the house was destroyed, and I mean everything. From well and septic pumps, TVs, garage door openers, alarm system, phones, anything plugged in. Every GFCI outlet was fried. All the alarm sensors were fused shut. Luckily I didn’t have the computers or stereo plugged in. The damage was over $6000.
I never leave my stereo plugged when not in use. Way too risky. It doesn’t take that long to warm up. Maybe 30 minutes tops. In fact, the jackass electric company was at my house unannounced the other day changing my meter. The lights were flickering causing untold spikes on the line. I had the stereo unplugged.
Every thunderstorm scares me to death now. If I’m home I unplug everything I can from the wall and wait it out. It is a major inconvenience to replace everything. It took months to get everything right again.