STORM ISHA: Fire breaks out as 3 homes struck by lightning in Donegal village of Newtoncunningham

In a bizarre twist, the three homes impacted by lightning on Monday afternoon were not close together but located roughly half a mile apart from each other.

Fianna Fáil Councillor Paul Canning, who lives in the area, told the Journal how miraculously, while the residents were badly shaken, there was no serious injuries.

“One of the houses is still on fire at the moment,” he said on Monday evening. “The other farmhouse in the middle, because of the nature of the house, that was dealt with quite quickly.”

In one of the homes, he said, an elderly woman was watching TV when the television suddenly exploded along with other electrical appliances impacted in the lightning strike.

In another of the homes, a woman and three children were inside at the time, while the third was also occupied when it was hit.

Colr. Canning said he saw himself witnessed how the lightning strike “lit up the whole of Newton” before the loud rattle was heard across the area.

He said that fire brigades from Derry and Letterkenny had arrived on the scene quite qucikly, but that the electricity outages which have impacted numerous areas across Donegal, caused some issues in terms of setting up water pump equipment on site.

Colr. Canning said it was “a relief that no-one was seriously injured” but said those directly impacted had been left badly shaken.

Thousands of homes are still without power across Donegal this evening. There were reports of another lightning strike causing a power outage across parts of Carndonagh for a time earlier today, while thousands more homes across Inishowen and the wider region remain without power tonight.