FLASH, BANG, WALLOP WHAT A SUMMER!
VIOLENT thunderstorms wreaked havoc across the country yesterday – with houses struck by lightning, landslides, flash floods and mini-tornados.
A ‘danger to life’ warning has been issued ahead of more storms expected today.
The Met Office said ‘ floodwater, lightning strikes, hail or strong winds’ could hit the South, East Anglia, parts of the Midlands and South Wales between noon and 9pm.
Leaving a trail of destruction, yesterday’s thunderstorms brought up to 2ins of rain in torrential dopwnpours as they swept through areas including Liverpool, the Home Counties, the Chilterns, Cotswolds, London and East Anglia. Heavy showers and storms also hammered Cornwall and Pembrokeshire, with some areas hit by more than 1.2ins of rain.
In Chorlton- cum-Hardy, Manchester, an unoccupied Victorian house partially collapsed in the storm, but there were no reports of injuries. A shocked neighbour said: ‘Initially I heard a loud noise that we thought was lightning. We looked out of the window and there was what looked like smoke filling the street.
‘Then there was a flash and the next thing the whole chimney stack started to move towards the house next door, almost in slow motion at first. Then the majority of the house just seemed to disappear.’
In Sheffield, firefighters fought to save a house after lightning set the roof ablaze. Lightning is also believed to have set fire to the roof of a house at Barnston, Merseyside. Nobody was hurt but it caused extensive damage. Firefighters had to rescue motorists from their cars after flash flooding in Garston, Liverpool.
Resident Cara Jensen, 25, said she looked from her window to see the road outside ‘just swimming with water’. Cars also waded through floods in Levenshulme, Manchester. Elsewhere, heavy rain caused landslides, closing the West Coast Main Line rail link between Stafford and Crewe, and the line between Doncaster and Scunthorpe during Tuesday evening. The stormy conditions led to sightings of mini-tornados in Wales and in parts of northern England.
Warning of more storms today, the Met Office said: ‘There is a small chance of fast-flowing or deep floodwater causing danger
to life and some communities could be cut off due to flooded roads.’ Up to 1.5ins of rain are expected in just a few hours. A separate warning for heavy rain and possible flooding between 3am and noon today covers the Thames Valley northwards as far as Liverpool and the Humber Estuary. The Met Office said lightning strikes recorded across the country have numbered in the low thousands each day this week. Thunderstorms also caused chaos in the North West and Yorkshire on Tuesday. More heavy showers are forecast for the weekend – although there are also set to be sunny spells. The best of any dry weather is expected on Saturday, with temperatures reaching highs of 21C (70F) in the South East and 19-20C (66-68F) further North and West.