Pyjamas burned but girl escapes

Seven-year-old Emily Holland survived a lightning strike on her home which ripped the roof off her house. The bolt wrecked the family home in Locks Heath near Southampton but failed to wake up Emily's brother Luke, even though the lightning tore a hole in the side of his bedroom.

The lightning bolt seared through Emily's bed and mattress and burnt her pyjamas but apart from a tiny scorch mark on her arm she emerged unscathed. Mum Melanie, 36, who was at work when the storm broke said 'She must be the luckiest child alive.'

The lightning strike also brought down the aerial, blew a hole in the wall, and blew up the television. Television pictures on GMTV showed the extent of the damage, with electric cables hanging down from ceilings and half the roof blasted out.

The children's father John, 40, told GMTV the storm woke him up and he thought it was almost over when he heard 'one almighty thunderclap. The next thing I knew, the roof had come on top of me.

I 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.'

The Hollands are staying with neighbours until the damage can be repaired.

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