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Two young women have been seriously injured after being struck by lightning while taking selfies during a storm in Germany.

A spokesman for Bochum police said first responders found the women, aged 23 and 21, lying on the ground with their clothing torn in the city's Wattenscheid district on Sunday evening.

Paramedics had to resuscitate the 23-year-old who remains in intensive scare with life-threatening injuries, police spokesman Volker Schuette said.

The younger woman told police the last thing she remembered was walking with her friend on a footpath and recording themselves and each other with their smartphones, Mr Schuette said.

"Clearly they were surprised by the storm," he said.

The 21-year-old was also taken to hospital but her injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

Western Europe has experienced heavy storms in recent days, following an unusually long stretch of very warm weather this month.

Epic lightning storm over London 10 show all Epic lightning storm over London 1/10 This image, taken from the Shard's viewing platform, shows the scale of the storm over London @shardview 2/10 The capital was drenched and in awe at the epic lightning storm @shardview 3/10 A bolt of lightning darts across the London skyline @shardview 4/10 Lightning dances over London in this one-of-a-kind image of the capital's skyline James Burns 5/10 A bolt of lightning shoots down over the City James Burns 6/10 Londoners were awoken to the din of an epic thunderstorm last night James Burns 7/10 A view of the storm taken from Putney Alex Lentati 8/10 More lightning illuminates the night sky in south London Alex Lentati 9/10 A lightning bolt over the Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth PA 10/10 The lightning storm is seen over Guildford Rex Features 1/10 This image, taken from the Shard's viewing platform, shows the scale of the storm over London @shardview 2/10 The capital was drenched and in awe at the epic lightning storm @shardview 3/10 A bolt of lightning darts across the London skyline @shardview 4/10 Lightning dances over London in this one-of-a-kind image of the capital's skyline James Burns 5/10 A bolt of lightning shoots down over the City James Burns 6/10 Londoners were awoken to the din of an epic thunderstorm last night James Burns 7/10 A view of the storm taken from Putney Alex Lentati 8/10 More lightning illuminates the night sky in south London Alex Lentati 9/10 A lightning bolt over the Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth PA 10/10 The lightning storm is seen over Guildford Rex Features

Flash floods as high as 1.6 metres (5.3 feet) submerged roads and basements on Sunday in parts of central Germany.

Firefighters in the state of Hesse rescued two women who were trapped in their car by a mudslide.

Dozens of flights were cancelled at Frankfurt Airport, Germany's busiest, because of storms.

Meteorologists predict temperatures in Germany will hit 33C this week, with high humidity increasing the risk of further summer storms.

In London "incredible" lightning storms lit up the capital on Saturday night grounding flights from Stansted airport.