LIGHTNING strikes caused fires at four homes in Dorset as severe storms battered the county throughout the night of Thursday, June 25.

The Met Office issued a severe weather warning for the area, advising of localised thunderstorms with “very heavy rain” – up to 4cm falling within three hours in some areas. The warning remained in place throughout the next day.

Bournemouth Echo: SKY DRAMA: Lightning seen from Southbourne beach, Bournemouth, pictured by Stu Meech

The severe weather wreaked havoc in parts of the county.

At 7.30pm on the Thursday a bolt struck a house in New Street Marnhull, near Sturminster Newton.

Two pumps from Sturminster Newton attended and were able to confine the blaze to the roof space, but electrical sockets were blown across all three floors of the property.

Lightning also struck the farmhouse at Goddards Farm in the same village, starting a blaze at 1.30am, which raged into the Friday morning.

At the height of the blaze eight engines and four support appliances were at the scene, using water from a nearby pond to douse the flames.

Dorset Fire and Rescue finally left at 11am the following morning. The roof of the house and half of the first storey were destroyed by fire, and the rest of the building suffered water damage.

At 1.26am lightning caused a fire in the roof of a home in Douglas Road, Southbourne.

Just before 1.28am at Willow Way in Christchurch the roof of a house was set alight by lightning. Crews from Westbourne and Ferndown attended, and removed tiles to get to the flames, which were confined to roof space.

In the early hours crews were called to Monmouth Road, Dorchester, after heavy rain caused drains to overflow, flooding the ground floor of a house.

A spokesman for Dorset Fire and Rescue Service said: “It was an extremely busy night for the fire service, but fortunately no one was injured.”