NBA star Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has suffered severe damage to his new luxury penthouse apartment in Philadelphia after a lightning strike triggered heavy flooding throughout the unit. The disaster occurred on Sunday, just minutes after his wife, McKenzie Caldwell-Pope, completed signing the lease on the top-floor residence.
Writing on her TikTok social media account, McKenzie shared footage documenting water pouring down from ceiling fixtures across multiple rooms in the home during moving day.
Recalling the ordeal, McKenzie said she heard an intense sound shortly after finalizing the paperwork. "Minutes after I sign the lease, you guys, I hear the loudest bang I've ever heard in my life," she told followers, noting that the family was situated on the building's top floor.
As the incident unfolded, water quickly spread across the residence. "I hear the loudest bang, all of a sudden s*** starts shooting out of the ceiling and water is pouring in, dumping in," McKenzie recalled. "So everyone just starts screaming, and we're like, we have to get out of here."
The flooding accumulated rapidly inside the property, reaching depths of two to three inches. Building staff subsequently informed McKenzie that the sudden discharge of water had been caused by tripped fire sprinklers following the strike.
Evacuation down 14 flights of stairs
The emergency situation escalated when the lightning strike disabled the electrical systems operating the high-rise building's elevators. With the lifts out of service, Caldwell-Pope and his family were forced to scramble down 14 flights of stairs to exit the building.
The family's hired movers were supposedly trapped inside one of the elevators disabled by the strike and had to be rescued by attending firefighters.
Hours after the incident, electricians arrived at the scene to turn off emergency sirens and attempt to resolve the issue. McKenzie said workers initially denied what she had heard, before an electrician confirmed the direct strike.
According to McKenzie, the electrician told her: "Yeah, you got struck by lightning and there's a 1 in 400 million chance of a unit getting struck the way this unit got struck."
Championship career and Philadelphia move
Caldwell-Pope recently signed a one-year, $3.8million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, a professional franchise competing in the National Basketball Association. The move reunited the veteran shooting guard with former Los Angeles Lakers teammate LeBron James on a revamped Philadelphia roster.
The veteran guard brings elite capabilities to Philadelphia, offering strong perimeter defense alongside proven championship experience. Caldwell-Pope earned his second NBA championship ring in 2023 as a starter for the Denver Nuggets, cementing his standing as one of the league's most reliable shooting guards.
The 76ers play their home games in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, competing in the league's Eastern Conference as they prepare for the upcoming NBA season.
