A seven-year-old girl escaped with just a tiny scorch mark on her arm after a lightning bolt wrecked her family's home and burnt her pyjamas.
Emily Holland was woken up by the storm which tore through the roof of the detached house in Locks Heath, near Southampton.
Amazingly her brother Luke, nine, slept through the destruction - even though the lightning ripped a hole in his bedroom.
Television pictures showed the extent of the damage, with electric cables hanging down from ceilings and half the roof blasted out. The lightning strike also brought down the aerial, blew a hole in the wall, and blew up the television.
Emily nodded "yes" when asked if she had been scared.
The children's father John, 40, told GMTV he raced through the house to rescue the children after he was woken up by the storm.
He said: "We had quite a major thunder and lightning storm. The first clap actually woke me up so I decided to watch it and listen to it.
"I thought it was disappearing and then there was one almighty thunderclap. The next thing I knew, the roof had come on top of me.
"I realised what had happened, cleared the debris from myself and the bed area and got dressed quickly. The next thing I thought was 'get the kids out'.
"I went into Luke's room. Amazingly, he was still asleep so I managed to get him up, came to Emily's room, she was just getting up, grabbed them both, put Emily on my back, downstairs, straight out, called the fire brigade."
Mother Melanie, 36, returned home from a night shift at the supermarket to find the scene of destruction.
The family have been staying at a neighbour's house since the storm struck but hope to move back in when the damage is repaired.
"We are not sure how long it is going to take," Melanie said.
It is He Who doth show you the lightning, by way both of fear and of hope: It is He Who doth raise up the clouds, heavy with (fertilising) rain!
Nay, thunder repeateth His praises, and so do the angels, with awe: He flingeth the loud-voiced thunder-bolts, and therewith He striketh whomsoever He will..yet these (are the men) who (dare to) dispute about Allah, with the strength of His power (supreme)!
I really doubt if luck had anything to do with it. Nothing happens or fails to happen without it being the will of Allah(swt) All things will unfurl exactly as they should, Inshallah
I really doubt if luck had anything to do with it. Nothing happens or fails to happen without it being the will of Allah(swt) All things will unfurl exactly as they should, Inshallah
True. But you never know when you're destined to die!
Fear makes strangers of people who would be friends.
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