East Anglia hit by 2,000 to 3,000 lightning strikes – and there could be more to come
Stanway house fire. Picture: JUMBO NEWS - Credit: JUMBO NEWS
Warm weather brought thunder and lightning to the region overnight, and there may be more to come later.
Stanway house fire. Picture: JUMBO NEWS - Credit: JUMBO NEWS
Chris Bell, from Norwich based forecasters Weatherquest, said the region experienced between 2,000 and 3,000 strikes in the space of around three hours.
The storms headed up and across East Anglia from Essex and skirted round the south west of Suffolk. They missed most of east Suffolk.
Mr Bell added that the level of strikes in East Anglia was not as high as areas such as the midlands which were struck hard by the summer storms.
He added that there was 30% risk of further thunderstorms this evening and overnight. By tomorrow morning this drops to around 20%.
Lightning over The Shard in central London on Saturday Picture: @samueltwilkinson/PA Wire. - Credit: @samueltwilkinson /PA
Nationally Britain experienced between 30,000 and 40,000 strikes over night as a combination of warm, humid conditions and instability in the atmosphere causing thunder and lightning.
Essex County Fire and Rescue spent three hours tackling a house fire in Stanway after lightning struck the roof of a house.
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Firefighters were called to Wren Close in Stanway shortly after 1.30am this morning.
A spokesperson for the service said: “On arrival crews reported that the entire roof of the detached building was alight.
Lightning illuminating the sky over the Southbank on the River Thames in London Picture: TOWERRNLI/PA Wire - Credit: TowerRNLI/PA
“The officer in charge immediately requested the support of an Aerial Ladder Platform to help tackle the fire from height.”
The fire was finally extinguished by 4.30am.
The roof of the property has been destroyed while much of the house has also been affected by the fire.
No one was in the property at the time of the lightning strike.
Lightning also caused problems at Stansted Airport, causing delays in the early morning.
