One of the hottest days of the year came to a brisk end when an overnight thunderstorm struck Sussex.

Thousands of people were woken from their slumber in the early hours of this morning when the storm approached the coast from the English Channel.

A picture from a Worthing resident appears to show Worthing Pier being struck by a bright flash of lightning - although West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said it was not hit.

Elsewhere, East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said a property in Mile Oak Road, Portslade, was hit.

The strike caused significant damage to the property's roof, which caught fire. Fire crews were called out at 1.50am to put out the blaze.

It appears the storm wasn't just confined to Sussex. Pictures of spectacular fork lightning have been captured in the likes of Surrey, Essex and Winchester.

There is a risk of more to come as the Met Office has issued a severe weather warning for the whole of the county tomorrow.

A spokesman said: “Areas of heavy, thundery showers will develop on Friday night before moving during Saturday.

“The location of these is uncertain but where they do form some torrential downpours are possible with frequent lightning, large hail and locally strong gusts.”

Foomandoonian on YouTube took this footage over Brighton and Hove:

dom_1001 sent this movie of the West Pier illuminated in the storm:

Twitter user Armand1964 sent this picture of Whitehawk:

The Argus: @brightonargus What a great Thunderstorm we had last night at the top of #Whitehawk picture proves it was awesome

Alex Lawrence took this creative snap at Brighton bandstand

The Argus: Disaster banner brightonbandstandlightning.jpg for the homepage

Were you woken by the storm? Send your pictures and videos to news@theargus.co.uk or leave your comments below.