During the early morning hours on Thursday, thousands of residents throughout Warren County and the city of McMinnville lost their electricity due to a lightning strike. At 6 a.m. while most people were waking up and getting ready for work, one-third of McMinnville citizens lost power after a lightning strike destroyed a switch on the powerline equipment at the TVA substation behind Oster. Due to the damage at the substation, McMinnville Electric System was unable to receive the electricity needed to send to 3,114 customers.