Flitwick man hurt in direct lightning strike

The bolt caused damage to the lounge wall and electrics in the house, in The Ridgeway.

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue crews were called to the incident, who helped the injured man before passing him to the care of paramedics.

They also advised other residents to have their electrics checked by an electrician.

The service dealt with more than 40 calls last night (June 12) as flooding threatened the county.

Firefighters were out and about in Stotfold and Ampthill protecting homes from flooding as a brook overflowed and a storm drain failed.

At 17.55 on-call Firefighters from Ampthill Community Fire Station used Aqua Sacs to prevent flooding in Russell Drive, Ampthill due to a defective storm drain in the area.

Around 8pm the heavy rain caused a brook by Brook Street, Coppice Mead and Wycklond Close, Stotfold, to flood.

Group Commander Darren Cook said: “In Stotfold we protected properties using Aqua Sacs to keep flood waters from entering homes, working closely with colleagues from Central Bedfordshire Council, the Police, Highways and volunteers from BLEVEC to keep the damage and inconvenience to a minimum.

“I’d like to thank the on-call crews for all their hard working protecting their communities and for those in Fire Control for dealing with the many calls we received calmly and effectively.”

He added: “This is the second potentially serious flooding incident within a week and I’d urge people to seek advice from the Bedfordshire Local Resilience Forum website about how to prepare in case there is another one soon. ”

During the evening Fire Control staff gave advice to dozens of people concerned about the risk of flooding to their properties in Stotfold, Ampthill, Cranfield, Barton-le-Clay, Lower Stondon and Lidlington.

Flooding advice can be found on the Bedfordshire Local Resilience Forum www.bllrf.org.uk