‘A huge fork of lightning’ - eyewitness speaks of awe-inspring Sheffield thunderstorm

The Millhouses property was hit at around 7.30pm on Tuesday night during a thunderstorm that carried on for several hours.

The strike caused the top floor of the three-storey house to set on fire, with 20 firefighters, five fire engines, a cherry picker and two fire responder cars all being sent to the blaze.

The eyewitness, who preferred to stay nameless, said: “We live just around the corner and were watching the most amazing storm I have ever seen from our window.

“Then out of nowhere, there was a huge fork of lightning, the loudest bang I have ever heard and the most almighty clap of thunder which came almost at the same time.

“I went around and got there just before the fire engines. Everyone was out of their houses as were the family whose house it was. The chances of that happening must be so tiny.”

The eyewitness said the lightning came during a lull in the storm which she now believes she was directly in the eye of the weather system.

She said: “There wall all this hail, rain, thunder and lightning. Then everything stopped and that is when it happened.

“It was the first time I have ever experienced anything like it. It was incredible but at least no one was hurt - that is the main thing.”

The woman added the firefighters quickly got the blaze under control and then used the cherry picker to damp down the property.

A video shared with the Telegraph showed a huge blaze in the house’s roof while smoke billowed across the city and firefighters battled to extinguish the flames.

On Wednesday, damaged property could be seen on the drive and garden of the house but the affected family were believed to have moved in with friends.

The thunderstorm was part of a swathe of storms which swept across the north of England and Scotland, causing flash flooding in some places.