Severe Thunderstorm, 7/20/14, very loud booms then power went out

I live in the Lake Tahoe area. There was a powerful thunderstorm that came in from the east, from the Gardnerville/Minden, Nevada area. Lightning was intense. Four houses in the South Lake Tahoe area were hit by lightning. As the storm moved to the northwest, and it appeared it was dying down, we heared 4 very loud booms, and then the power went out around 4:30pm. Power was out over a very large area including all of South Lake Tahoe, Stateline, and parts north of there. Carson City, NV, as well as areas south of there including Gardnerville and Minden had major power outages also. Power was out until around 9:30pm for us. Tried to find out why the power went out, as in what caused the power to go out, a transformer being hit, power lines down, something, but could find nothing online about this, and still haven't found out the direct cause. Very little info available online or in local newspapers even today, two days later. Never heard lightning make the booms we heard! Very intense. Shook the ground and the house. Some businesses in town I went to the next couple of days said they were having problems with their electonic equipment, computers, phones, etc.. Been in lots of lightning storms, but nothing like this one.