Five killed as storms sweep across the country

AT LEAST five people died in storms which swept across much of the country over the weekend. Bad weather was also responsible for leaving thousands of homes without electricity in Lincolnshire, delays at Gatwick airport and roof and chimney fires in Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.

At least three people were reported struck by lightning. In the early hours of yesterday, Nigel Clarke from Impington, Cambridgeshire, died at a camp site in Great Billing, Northamptonshire, when he was hit after leaving his caravan.

In Hampshire, a sergeant major at the Longmore Army Training Camp, Bordon, and a 56-year-old man from the village of Wherwell, near Andover, were treated for burns after being struck by lightning.

In Humberside, Alison Overton, 21, of Brigg, died after a head-on collision in Winterton on Saturday night. She and her 11-month-old baby, Amy, were flung out of a car into a field. The baby suffered head injuries.

Anthony Newby, 55, of Grimsby, was killed after his car hit a crash barrier on the Humber Bridge.

In South Yorkshire, Ian Todd of Clifton, Rotherham, was electrocuted and killed as he searched for a leak in the roof of the Adwick Leisure Centre in Doncaster, where he was assistant manager.

One person died and four were seriously injured in a crash involving a car, bus and van on the A15 in Lincolnshire.

About 5,000 homes in Skegness, Lincolnshire, were left without power following the storms. East Midlands electricity drafted in extra staff to deal with the emergency.

Yesterday morning, flights in and out of Gatwick airport were delayed following power surges caused by lightning.