ST. CLAIR, Mo. – A woman in Missouri is thanking Mother Nature after a Midwest summer storm convinced her to pull off the road and take shelter in a very lucky place.
“There were two lightning bolts that both hit at the same time right next to me,” the latest $50,000 Powerball winner told Missouri Lottery officials. “I told my husband, ‘I don’t want to drive into that storm.’”
The woman then pulled into a gas station in St. Clair and bought a Powerball ticket for the July 1 drawing while they waited for the storm to pass.
The next morning, the woman said she checked the winning numbers and couldn’t believe her luck. Her ticket matched four of the five white-ball numbers, plus the Powerball, to win a $50,000 prize.
IOWA WOMAN WINS $2 MILLION POWERBALL PRIZE AFTER LOSING HOME IN TORNADO
The winning numbers drawn July 1 were: 4, 17, 35, 49 and 61, with a Powerball of 8.
“I almost didn’t stop!” she exclaimed. “I can’t believe this. It is exciting.”
She said she plans to spoil her many grandchildren with the winnings.
Saturday’s Powerball jackpot, which is estimated at $875 million, is the sixth-highest Powerball jackpot ever offered.