Like many developers, I am very particular about my main computer rig and try to take very good care of it, and all my accessories, and I don't take kindly to any misuse (see: Personal Space).
One of the things I'm extremely careful about is to use surge protectors anytime I plug my expensive hardware into an electrical outlet. This has saved my gear more than once and I maintain these surge protectors and replace them from time to time.
One stormy evening many years ago, our house was hit by lightning (or near enough that we heard the thunder before we saw the flash and a couple of us had to go change our shorts, but otherwise nothing was wrong and I didn't think too much of it because all of our gear is on surge protectors. So we're all fine, right?!?
The next morning I woke up to a computer that wouldn't turn on. Tearing it apart and troubleshooting it found some scorch marks around the Ethernet network port. Further investigation revealed that the lightning had caused a power surge straight up the cable internet coax, through the modem, through the router, and along many of the Ethernet cables. Most of our network devices were taken out and had to be replaced, along with my main computer rig.
The computer wasn't quite dead and I was able to get it to turn back on, but it never worked correctly after that. I still kept it around given a glimmer of hope that I might be able to salvage it. That was over 10 years ago and it's still sitting in the corner right next to the box of "saving this for later" parts dating back to 1999.
