It could be a complete coincidence that everything blown was on one phase. Was anything sensitive plugged into the other phase that was not impacted?
Also important, were any surge supressors plugged into the other phase? If a powerstrip on the "good" phase had activated, it would have shunted that surge to ground, protecting not only things plugged into it, but potentially everything else on that phase.
Also worth noting, if a power strip sees a high voltage spike on the ground side, it's electrically identical to a transient on the line side, and it's going to activate.
