LIGHTING strikes set two homes alight as severe storms battered the county on Thursday night.

The Met office issued a severe weather warning for the area, advising of localised thunderstorms with "very heavy rain" - up to 4cm falling within three hours in some areas. The warning remained in place throughout Friday.

Reader Robin Griessel took this photo of lightning from Boscombe beach

Bournemouth Echo: Lightning2.png

The severe weather wreaked havoc in parts of the county during Thursday night.

Lightning struck a property at Goddards Farm Marnhull, near Sturminster Newton, starting a fire which raged into Friday morning.

At the height of the blaze eight engines and four support appliances were at the scene, using water from a nearby pond to douse the flames.

Dorset Fire and Rescue finally left at 11am the following morning. The roof of the house and half of the first story were destroyed by fire, and the rest of the building suffered water damage.

And at Willow Way in Christchurch the roof of a house was set alight by lightning during the night. Crews from Westbourne and Ferndown attended, and removed tiles to get to the fire, which was confined to roof space.

In the early hours crews were called to Bournemouth Road Dorchester after heavy rain caused drains to overflow, flooding the ground floor of a house.