Want the top news headlines sent to your inbox daily? Sign up to our FREE newsletter below Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Dazed mum Lorraine Gibson has told of the moment a lightning bolt shot through her roof inches from where she lay in bed causing her home to burst into flames.

The 52-year-old was watching TV when the powerful bolt hit the terraced house sparking a massive blaze.

Neighbours ran to her rescue as they saw smoke billowing from the home in Blakelaw, Newcastle.

The strike tore a huge hole in the roof before creating a fire which ripped through the loft and second floor.

Lorraine, who has lived at the house for 25 years, described hearing a massive “boom” before an explosion as the bolt hit.

And on Wednesday as the mum, her husband Tony and nephew Ant Walker, tried to salvage some of their belongings from the wreckage left behind, she told how she fled from her home.

She said: “I was in the bedroom watching TV and I was watching the storm out of the window. I remembered thinking to myself I shouldn’t have bothered watering those plants and then I got back into bed.

“It was around 4pm and then there was this massive boom. I jumped off the bed and it was like an explosion had hit the house.

“All the electricity just went off and the TV started sizzling. I didn’t dare touch anything and I started to make my way downstairs.

“As I was coming down the stairs the neighbours were banging on the door, shouting the house was on fire.”

Firefighters were called to the blaze in Rawlston Way just after 4pm when two homes in the street were struck by lightning.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

All of Lorraine’s clothes, personal belongings and treasured family snaps were destroyed in the blaze.

Her family managed to pack some of the salvaged possessions into the back of the car as well as their three cats who survived the fire.

Lorraine said she is worried about her family video recordings, including the ones showing her daughter Jennifer, 24, on stage.

Nephew Ant, a tiler, said he could smell smoke as he made his way home before noticing it was his home on fire.

The 42-year-old said: “Everything’s gone. I’ve only got the clothes I’m standing up in.”

Also read: