The storm hit my village in the afternoon and the heavy rain very quickly turned into hail stones. They started as normal size but then grew into ones about an inch and a half big. I've never seen hail like it before in my life. The windows and roofs were being hit so hard I thought they would break. It was only after it cooled down that some of us in the village went outside and realised that all our cars had been dented by the huge hail and my neighbour's caravan had its windows shattered. I have kept some of the hail stones in my freezer for my boyfriend to see as he was 5 miles away and had told me it wasn't hailing at all!

About 3.00pm on Sunday afternoon the storm swept over the village and in less than an hour dumped about 5 cm of rain / hailstones onto the village. Once it passed the flooding in the garden subsided quickly but the damage to my car will take more to remedy. The hailstones of up to 40mm diameter have left the car roof and bonnet looking like they have been attacked by a hammer. I just hope the insurance company understands.

The last time I saw a storm like last night's was when I was the American Midwest during tornado season. The hailstones were huge and the thunder and lightning was constant. We lost our terrestrial TV signal too. As for the flooding, we knew something was up somewhere when we heard loads of sirens going as they headed towards Sutton Bank. There was a bit of flooding in Thirsk as well, but not as bad as in Helmsley. It's incredible to think how so much water fell in such a short time, especially as it had been so hot and sunny earlier in the day.

Originally posted by Paul
Today has brought prolonged thunderstorms causing flooding to the Glastonbury festival, along with a tornado in Coventry, and 2 houses left severely damaged by lightning strikes in the West Midlands.