A family had a lucky escape when a bolt of lightning shot through the roof of their converted bungalow leaving a gaping hole.

Alan Chandler, 47, was watching television downstairs at his home in Hillside Road, Storrington, at 10.30pm on Monday, when he heard a loud crack and the television exploded, filling the room with smoke.

His wife Linda, 44, was upstairs in bed and shouted down to her husband that he ought to come upstairs to see what had happened.

Mr Chandler, a landscape gardener, said: "All the lights had gone out and the phone line went dead. I told my wife not to worry but when I went upstairs to our bedroom, the ceiling had been blown out right above our bed where my wife had been lying.

"The lightning bolt had come in through one side of the roof and out through the other. My eldest daughter Lucy lives in an annex and could see all these green flashing lights around the house.

"I kept saying Do not panic'. I did not realise how serious it was."

Mr and Mrs Chandler spent yesterday moving everything from their bedroom, in the converted roof space of the loft, downstairs.

Mr Chandler said: "We have had a builder round to put tarpaulin up to make sure it's waterproof and plumbers and electricians have been round.

"The insurance company said someone would come round in the next 48 hours but we still have a gaping hole in the roof which isn't great.

"The chimney's got a great big crack in it too and will have to come down. We are pretty shaken up by it."

A house in Angmering Lane, East Preston, near Angmering, was also struck by lightning at about 10.15pm on Monday.

Jessica Brass, 34, who lives with her parents, was watching television when lightning hit the roof and television aerial.

She said: "The TVs exploded up here and downstairs and I must admit I was a bit scared. The house got struck last year but it was worse then because all the electrics went."

West Sussex firefighters had a busy night on Monday after receiving several emergency calls following extreme weather damage.

The first call was to West Green Drive, Crawley, at 9.35pm, where firefighters had to pump water out of a flooded home.

Other properties in West Green also flooded during the torrential rain and firefighters were joined by Highways Agency staff, using sandbags to stop water going into homes.

The kitchen and cellar of homes in Staplefield Road and High Street in Storrington, had to be pumped free of water and sewage by firefighters.

The bad weather continued yesterday.

Manor Hall Middle School in Manor Road, Southwick, remained closed. The school had been forced to close on Monday, when heavy rainfall flooded the building after thieves stole lead from its roof.

Park Mead School in Upper Dicker, near Hailsham, was also closed after water came through the roof on Sunday night, damaging the ceiling and the electrics.

A Met Office spokesman said the weather would remain unsettled for the rest of the week with showers this afternoon.

By the weekend it should become a bit drier.

A spokesman for the Environment Agency added that there was one floodwatch at Loxwood Stream, from Chiddingfold to Drungewick, near Midhurst.

He said: "We have some high tides over the weekend and there is potential for flood risk but at the moment we are not too concerned about it.

"We are monitoring the weather closely."

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