A family home in Cork has suffered severe damage after it was hit by lightning during the thunderstorms that blasted the country this week.
Multiple fire brigade units rushed to the house near Fivemilebridge on Tuesday after a suspected lightning strike sparked what the Cork City Fire Brigade described as a "serious" blaze.
A Cork City team was joined by the Carrigaline crew and the group managed to get the blaze under control and then fully out by around midnight.
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According to CorkBeo, there was major damage to both the roof as well as the inside of the house, resulting in the family having to evacuate their home.
The blaze occurred shortly after all of Ireland was placed on an Orange Weather Alert by Met Eireann, which resulted in the majority of the country being blasted by heavy thunderstorms and showers.
The thunder and lightning also resulted in a woman being struck by lightning at her Offaly home.
Many areas around the country saw localised floods with a number of power outages recorded across Cork as well as other areas, including in the Fivemilebridge and Ballygarvan regions, where the lightning struck the house.
The wet weather may be here to stay for a few more days, with national forecaster Met Eireann predicting a weekend of possible showers, but temperatures will still remain high.
Friday will be mostly cloudy with spells of rain through the day, possibly heavy at times but some brighter intervals will develop also. The highest temperatures throughout the day will be between 19C and 23C.
Saturday will be warmer, however, with the highest temperatures reaching 20C to 25C, however, there will be spells of rain or showers, heavy at times.
The early days of next week will continue unsettled with rain or showers at times.
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