A huge explosion has rocked an area of the UK, with video showing it lighting up the skies this evening moments after a thunderstorm passed overhead.
The mystery bang was reported on social media earlier this evening by terrified members of the public. Many reported hearing a loud "bang" while a concerning video showed flames lighting up the night's sky and billowing into the night. Others reported they experienced a momentary loss of power shortly after the explosion.
The person who captured the footage can be overheard saying: "That's massive." He later posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: "I don't know but it was massive. There were lots of fire brigade /police cars minutes later going through A40." Another person added: "Did anyone just see the skies over Oxford a minute ago? Don't think I've seen orange lightning before!"
Mystery shrouded the blast but energy firm Severn Trent Green Power has confirmed lightning struck a tank this evening. A spokesperson for the company said: "Severn Trent Green Power can confirm that at around 19:20 this evening, a digester tank at its Cassington AD facility near Yarnton, Oxfordshire, was struck by lightning resulting in the biogas within that tank igniting. We are working with the emergency services to secure the site and will provide further comments in due course."
The company said no-one had been injured in the incident. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Thames Valley Police said: "Our officers are currently at the scene of a fire at a waste plant near Yarnton, Oxfordshire. It is believed that lightning struck gas containers at the site during bad weather this evening, causing a large fire."
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Video footage was posted on social media following the blast. One person said: "There was a huge explosion sound in the midst of a thunderstorm then the sky to the east started glowing bright orange. Two fire engines went through our village 15 mins later. There is a facility producing green gas between Cassington and Yarnton."
Jack Frowde, 34, from Oxford, who works at Oxford University, said: "I was sitting in my kitchen when the whole room lit up with a brilliant white light, then followed by a huge crack which sounded like really heavy thunder. I looked out of the kitchen window and it was as if the sky was pulsating orange. I ran to the back to capture the orange glow as it faded after about 20 seconds."
Stuart Hosking, in his 50s, from Oxford, an AI business director and former contestant on Big Brother, said: "We were pretty close. I thought it was the sun setting, until I saw the flickering and smoke. The lights flickered in the house then a flash, then a rumble like thunder, but a single bang."
Oxfordshire was among the dozens of locations in the UK under a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms, as put out earlier tonight by the Met Office. It read: "Thunderstorms with frequent lightning have already affected parts of the warning area, these continuing into the evening in places. An increasing risk of longer-lasting intense downpours too, especially later this evening and further east across the warning area, for example towards south Lincolnshire and East Anglia.
"These storms are likely to be focused in relatively narrow bands, so some places will miss the worst, while a few locations might catch 25-50 mm of rain within 2 or 3 hours, along with frequent lightning and gusty winds."
