THE roof of a house in Locking Stumps was badly damaged when it was hit by lightning during the storm on Sunday morning.

Ernest Wood and his wife Eileen were in the Lake District when they received a call to inform them about the damage caused to their home in Locking Stumps Lane.

Mr Wood, aged 73, said: "The lightning struck just after 10am, and a neighbour called one of our relatives who let us know.

"We shot back home and by the time we got here they were trying to clear up some of the mess.

"There was broken glass everywhere, part of the roof has been blown off, the chimney breast has been damaged and part of the ceiling has come down."

The Woods were left with no electricity or gas, so went back up to the Lake District for the night before returning home on Monday.

Mr Wood said: "We are still waiting for someone from the insurance company to come and assess the damage.

"We were lucky we were away when it happened because if we had been in the house we could have been killed."