Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Mother of all thunderstorms
73,000 lightning bolts over two days Floods feared as the storms continue Today is hottest of the year so far
THE “mother of all thunderstorms” lit up the sky over the weekend in a spectacular display that caused havoc across the country.
And today’s Bank Holiday is tipped to be the hottest day of the year so far at up to 30C in the South as torrential downpours threaten floods elsewhere.
Flights were grounded and hundreds of homes were left without power as electrical storms raged with up to 73,000 lightning bolts over two days.
BBC meteorologist Tomasz Schafernaker, tweeted as the drama unfolded: “Mother of all thunderstorms now over London.
“Oh boy! This utterly insane. I’ve never seen a storm with such frequent lightning in my life.”
A house lost its roof after being struck by lightning in Stanway, Essex
early yesterday.
A blaze tore through the roof but firefighters were able to save the rest of the house, where fortunately no one was hurt as the owners were believed to have been on holiday.
Neighbour Amanda Williams described hearing a “massive bang like an explosion”, adding: “The fire took hold very quickly.” London
Fire Brigade said it got over 500 calls linked to the storm.
Five properties were struck by Warwickshire lightning in in the early hours yesterday, the fire service there said. Devon,
In Dawlish, a telephone box burst into flames after a BT pole was hit on Saturday evening. Nearly 1,000 properties
Oh boy! I’ve never seen a storm with such frequent lightning TOMASZ SCHAFERNAKER BBC METEOROLOGIST
were left without power across Midlands, the with the majority of outages down to lightning, Western Power Distribution said.
Over 200 planes were delayed and dozens more cancelled at Stansted Airport
in Essex yesterday after lightning strikes wiped out its refuelling system.
Passenger Chiara Elisei tweeted: “Stuck on a plane with no fuel and no idea of when and if we will be departing. Ridiculous. A country in freefall.” Meanwhile, temperatures in Northern Ireland
could hit the mid 20s yesterday - but sunworshippers had to watch out for heavy downpours.
The Met Office said today could be even warmer than Saturday but that some “brief, sharp showers” could strike.
A Met Office spokesperson told the Mirror there could be some thundery spells, more likely across eastern parts of Northern Ireland.
Thunder and rain, if and where ever it comes, will be brief, they added.
Today will likely be drier than today and again could see highs Armagh of 24C. Saturday saw hit the high point on the thermometer with a temperature of 22.9C. More of the same is due until Friday as sweltering heat brings more dramatic storms in England, raising the risk of power cuts, damage to buildings, train delays and road closures. Nicola Maxey of the Met Office said: “It is one of the most dramatic weather phenomena we see in the UK.”
A yellow warning for heavy rain and flooding was issues across Wales and most of England.
Britain’s tallest building, the 1,016ft Shard in central London, looked dwarfed by a massive bolt of lightning on Saturday night,.
Similar displays could be seen across the country including on Cornwall the coast at Newquay.