Flash floods end warmer weather
24th June 2005
It was just to good to last and the week-long heat wave came to a crashing halt. Severe flooding and thunderstorms struck Lyneham and the local area on Friday, ending a long spell of hot weather. There we were basking in gorgeous sunshine for a few weeks and crash, bang, wallop, a deluge of rain and lightning which caused havoc across the region. At approximately 10am the first drops of rain started which followed by several hours of continual heavy rain and lightning strikes arriving in vengeance to interrupt the great British summer.

The illustration on the left captures the recorded lightning activity over the region. Each coloured circle represents a strike and the larger the diameter the more severe the lightning strike. The red circles represent the strongest strikes. The lightning data shown has been provided by a Boltek Stormtracker Lightning Detector.

Lyneham experienced over 30mm (1.10in) of rain in the 24-hour period, making it the wettest place in Britain. There were major traffic delays on the M4 in Wiltshire as well as the A350, caused by flooding in Chippenham and Sutton Benger. Several roads in Bradford-on-Avon were left under water.

More than 6,000 homes across north Wiltshire were without electricity following flash floods and storms across the county. Continued bad weather made repair work too dangerous for engineers to assess the damage and make repairs. Among the weather affected, were 2,100 homes in Melksham and 4,200 homes in Swindon. Cirencester was affected as well, said a Southern Electric spokesman. Many villages had also been affected including Wanborough, Broad Town, Littleton Pannell and Marston.

Glastonbury Festival, renown for the annual mud baths, were in for a soaking surprise. Traditionally, the music festival has a few wet days, resulting in the rituals of walking around covered in mud, but no one would expect to return to their temporary accommodation having to swim underwater to find their processions.

The loudest thunderstorm in living memory hit the West Country, knocking out the power supply to 10,000 homes. Thunderclaps of 120 decibels - as loud as a jet engine taking off 200 feet away - shook homes to their foundations.

The serious flooding in the Shepton Mallet area of Somerset and continual down pour and lightning resulted in the start of the Glastonbury Festival being delayed. A festival spokesman said: "All the bands on all the stages had been postponed for a couple of hours on the grounds of health and safety."

Galstonbury organisers managed to reschedule most acts for later in the day, with only six acts having to be cancelled. Michael Eavis, who owns the festival site, was in optimistic form. He said: "The rain always makes things better, it stops people getting complacent and presents a bit of a challenge".