Pictures show the shocking moment a town plunged into darkness on Wednesday evening after a bolt of lightning caused a power cut in Bridgend. The photographs, shared by resident Cal Williams, who lives in Maesteg, were taken on Wednesday, November 23.
Sharing the pictures with WalesOnline, Cal explained how he first saw a lightning bolt strike the mountain which overlooks his home. “The rain was biblical and I kept hearing thunder and lightning, which was getting louder and louder, so I set my phone to record and waited to see what it picked up,” he explained.
“Then while it was filming everything went off and there was a massive flash followed by a huge boom of thunder. The lights went out for a couple of minutes, and then came back on again. Then it carried on for a little longer before hailstones started falling.”
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Cal said it was “a night to remember”. “I hadn’t seen a night like that in years,” he continued. “The best part was the light from the lightning flashing so brightly it was almost blinding, and then everything suddenly went black.
“Car alarms and security alarms were going off. Then we watched the electricity kick back on across all of the houses in random order.”
Following the bizarre event, Cal went back to his phone delighted to find his device had captured the whole thing.
Cal was one of multiple residents in Bridgend county borough on Wednesday who reported power cuts in the storm, while residents in Newport, Merthyr Tydfil and Chepstow also experienced outages.
Photographer Paul Young, who managed to capture an image of lightning over his Cardiff Bay home, said: "I didn’t have to wait very long. The initial lighting strike lit up the house. The rumble of thunder shook the windows and that’s when I decided to have a look. Luckily I have a covered balcony."
Near Builth Wells on the A470 a mini tornado brought down a row of trees onto the main road which caused the road to be closed until Thursday afternoon.
Following more heavy rain throughout Thursday, experts are confident of a much more pleasant outlook on Friday, with sunny intervals and a moderate breeze for most of the morning and afternoon.
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