How to minimize the potential effect of a lightning strike...

[elsutjr]

My sister lives in a single-dwelling condo. Recently there was a storm (with lightning) during the night and upon waking she found that her TV, dishwasher and stove (electronics) were hammered (i.e. dead).
Aside from just bad luck, what would cause one house to be more susceptible to lightning than another?
Does a grounded lightning rod actually do any good to reduce the effects of this?

 

[brianmoooore]

If your sister's house still exists, it's unlikely that it suffered a direct lightning strike. The strike was probably onto the overhead supply cable in the neighbourhood and caused a high voltage pulse to be fed into the house.
In the UK we have been fitting SPDs (Surge protection devices) across the supply lines, and from the supply lines to earth near the point of entry of the electrical supply into the property, usually in the CU (fusebox, panel?) to deal with this problem.
I've no idea if equivalent devices are available in the US.

 

[Megawatt]

My sister lives in a single-dwelling condo. Recently there was a storm (with lightning) during the night and upon waking she found that her TV, dishwasher and stove (electronics) were hammered (i.e. dead).
Aside from just bad luck, what would cause one house to be more susceptible to lightning than another?
Does a grounded lightning rod actually do any good to reduce the effects of this?

If their power went out then the damage more than likely is not lightning but the surge which comes from the power company. As stated above we have SPD or surge protection device which can be installed in your main panel as close to the main breaker as possible.