Guernsey Met Office confirmed the storm arrived in the island at about 5.20am and lasted until just after 7am.
‘Up to yesterday we had received only 0.8mm of rainfall this month, but this morning’s thundery showers yielded 5.6mm up to 10am,’ a Met Office spokesman said.
The Met Office does not measure how many lightning strikes there were nearby, but online lightning trackers show nearly 30 strikes around the Bailiwick. Only a handful were directly over the island.
But that led to a stressful morning for one Torteval resident, whose home was struck by lightning.
Former deputy Sue Aldwell had been watching the storm after being woken up by the thunder and her agitated cats when lightning struck at around 6.45am.
‘We watched the storm get closer and closer and then there was a big bang – it was just so loud and quite scary,’ she said.
‘And to make it worse, all the fire alarms in the house went off and we couldn’t turn them off.
‘I came into the kitchen and found glass on the floor. I couldn’t work out where it had come from and then realised the lights above our kitchen island had exploded.’
The lightning did not just affect her house, but also the house opposite.
‘I don’t know if it hit them too or we are connected in some way,’ she said.
‘The lightning hit our aerial and damaged the corner of the roof. We have lost some ridge tiles and fascia boards.’
The damage was not just to the outside of the house, but also affected many of the appliances inside.
‘We also seem to have lost a cooker hob, extractor fan, coffee machine and some other electrical items on the mains, and the phones are also dead too.’
Mrs Aldwell thanked Guernsey Electricity and a local roofing company who responded to her call for help.
‘Guernsey Electricity were here by 7.30 and have been really wonderful,’ she said.
‘The roofing company are due any minute and I can’t really thank them enough for both coming so quickly.’
The thunderstorms affected early morning flights.
All the red-eye flights were delayed until after 7am, and the 6.40am London City flight was delayed for over an hour as safety protocols meant it could not be refuelled while there was the threat of a lightning strike.
Airport director Richard Thomasson confirmed a small number of flights were delayed as a safety precaution.
‘This is normal practice during periods of active thunder and lightning,’ he said.
‘Aircraft refuelling is also strictly prohibited during such weather conditions for safety purposes. Guernsey Airport remained open throughout the thunderstorm, so that flight operations could resume as soon as it was safe to do so.’
Guernsey Met Office said further thunderstorms were expected last night, before conditions were due to improve, and there is a return to brighter, drier conditions that should see us up to the end of the weekend.
‘Next week looks more unsettled as low pressure moves in from the Atlantic, although exact timings are uncertain at this stage.’
Normally about 32mm of rain would have fallen so far this month.
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