Thunderstorms' hits Britain with 20,000 lightning strikes: Thunderstorms...

Weather latest: 'Mother of all thunderstorms' hits Britain with 20,000 lightning strikes

BRITAIN was struck by lightning between
20,000 times as the "mother of all thunderstorms" lashed large parts of
the country throughout the night. 

The skies were illuminated by an extraordinary lightshow as the
powerful electric storm intensified over southern England and the
Midlands.

Experienced weathermen admitted they had never seen anything like it.

The
London Fire Brigade said it had taken more than 500 weather-related
calls as the warm and humid bank holiday weather broke down into an
"utterly intense" storm.

In Warwickshire, the fire service said
five properties were struck by lightning in the early hours of Sunday,
while in Dawlish, Devon, a telephone box burst into flames after a BT
pole was hit.

 

PA A lightning strike illuminates the skies above London

 

PA Lightning cuts through the night sky above Wembley Stadium

Western Power Distribution said nearly
1,000 properties had been left without power across the Midlands, with
the majority of outages down to lightning.

A cluster of 17 flood
alerts has been issued for parts of the Thames Valley, while West
Midlands and Bedfordshire fire services warned motorists of the risks of
driving on flood-hit roads.

Met Office meteorologist Charlie
Powell said information suggested there were "somewhere between 15,000
and 20,000 strikes across the UK during the overnight period".

He
explained: "Temperatures overnight did not fall much below 15 or 16
degrees, for the end of May that's a pretty hot and humid night so
everything was primed.

"We had some storms coming in from northern
France and some building up in the Channel and they sort of spread out
and have been working their way in.

"It looks like there just one huge area of thundery showers that worked across London just before midnight."

 

PA The 'Mother of all Thunderstorms' rocked parts of Britain last night

The
LFB said it had taken 505 weather-related calls overnight, although the
majority were down to flooding and no fires were reported to have been
started by lighting strikes.

Torrential rain at Kew Gardens, in south-west London, saw more than half an inch of rain fall in an hour.

A Met Office warning of heavy thunderstorms is in place until 6am on Monday, covering much of England and all of Wales.

As it played out in dramatic fashion, skies exploded with light and sound over the capital and across southern England.

BBC
weatherman Tomasz Schafernaker tweeted: "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 I don't think. Mostly sheet
lightning and not too loud but flashes are spectacular."

 

PA Lightning above Canary Wharf

James
Brewin captured the moment Big Ben and Westminster were illuminated by a
flash of lightning, describing it as "London in daylight at midnight
for a split second".

Photographer and journalist Andrew Lanxon
Hoyle shared an image of the Suleymaniye Mosque in Dalston, east London,
lit from behind by a brilliant fork of lightning, tweeting: "The
lightning storm over London right now is utterly INTENSE."

Pamelasaurusrex
shared a photo on Instagram of two people running for shelter outside
King's Cross Station as a lightning bolt arced across the sky over
nearby St Pancras.

Samuel Wilkinson captured the split-second
lightning shot toward the earth with The Shard skyscraper below, while
the RNLI at Tower Bridge shared a photo of the view over the South Bank
as the sky lit up.

The country is now braced for more
heavy thunderstorms and temperatures of 29 degrees with mother nature
unable to “make up its mind” whether we will see the hottest Spring bank
holiday or the wettest May on record.

A yellow weather warning is in force as thunderstorms are set to continue through the remainder of the bank holiday weekend.

The Met Office has declared there is a danger to life as “fast flowing and deep floodwater is possible”.

The Met Office said there is a chance of delays with cancellations to train and bus services.

Power cuts could also occur.

Meteorologist,
Marco Petagna, said: “Already, some thundery outbreaks are starting to
push their way in across the south west of England and they will travel
further east across parts of England and Wales.”