As one person above said, if there is a ground strike near your house, it raises potential of the ground in the immediate vacinity to incredibly high voltages which feeds back into anything that is connected to the house ground AND POOF
Whole home surge protectors generally prevent a surge on the power phases of the supply, but not on the ground
We had a ground strike on our street and it caused damage in about a dozen houes and the cost came to many thousands and the damage varied widely from one house to the next. Fridges, underfloor, heating, tv, networking devices on surge protectors, nothing was safe. Some houses had house surge protectors.
And our power lines are burried
Regards