Car windows smashed by bricks in Shropshire lightning strike

The lightning struck the chimney on the former Exchange Brasserie in High Street, Cleobury Mortimer, yesterday.

A VW Polo parked in the drive of neighbouring Cleobury Garage was damaged.

Debris falling down the other side landed on the flat roof and courtyard of the adjoining building which houses the Severn Hospice shop on the ground floor.

David Reiner, who lives on the third floor above the charity shop in Cleobury Mortimer, said the lightning bolt woke him at about 3.50am. The 46-year-old who is a shop supervisor at the post office in Cleobury High Street said: "I heard a deep rumble, which I thought was thunder, and then there was a blinding flash. I thought there had been an explosion. It was just like field artillery."

A lightning bolt also blew a hole in the roof of a house in Telford, causing £50,000 damage.

Downpours fell on sun-baked ground causing excess water to overflow from drains and sewers. A woman from Telford was rescued from her car by a passer-by after it was submerged in rising floodwater in Trescott, near Bridgnorth.

Meanwhile, firefighters were kept busy responding to several minor fires across the county last night despite torrential rain.

A large bonfire involving several pallets caught fire in Birchmore, in Telford, just before 10pm. An appliance from Tweedale put the the flames out within 15 minutes.

Undergrowth in Ercall Wood, in Wellington, was also set on fire around 8pm, forcing a fire crew to use a knapsack sprayer to bring the fire under control.

Rubbish and aerosol cans were set on fire in a playing field, in Kynaston Road, Shrewsbury, which firefighters put out.

In Linden Way, Market Drayton, more rubbish was a blaze in a field. A pump from Market Drayton attended.

See also:

• Shropshire storms leave trail of flooding and damage

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