AN UNDERTAKER whose house was struck by lightning has described how his Christmas lights were burnt onto the walls.
Farquhar Macleod was terrified when a bolt struck his house on Thursday morning, causing around £40,000 of damage.
Mr Macleod, who lives with wife Danielle, 23, in Leverburgh on the Isle of Harris, heard a noise like an explosion and was devastated to see the damage to his home.
The couple discovered that the chimney stack had crashed down onto the roof, destroying rafters and tiles and leaving the living room looking like a “bomb site”.
Melted
There was no fire but their festive lights had melted into the walls after being fried by the electric charge.
49-year-old Mr Macleod – who is the only undertaker on Harris – said: “I was in bed in the morning when I heard a massive bang. I thought my car had exploded at first, but when we went downstairs we saw the living room was like a bomb site.
“The gas fire was blown out of the wall and there were bits of furniture everywhere. It was total devastation and very frightening – all our alarms were going off.
Terrified
“My wife was terrified. She is scared of thunder and lightning as it is.
“We came back to stay at the house last night and as we were pulling up we saw another lightning flash in the distance. She panicked and decided to stay at her mums.”
The couple’s two dogs were downstairs when the lightning struck but were fortunately unharmed.
Unharmed
Mr Macleod added: “The electricity is back on at the house but things keep going wrong. We’ve got seven TV’s and none of them are working, and the heating isn’t back on yet.
“I don’t know what we’ll do for Christmas this year. We normally have my mother over on Christmas day but we’ll have to sort something else now.
“Somebody who lives near here had their house hit by lightning and it took five years for it to be completely repaired.”
Despite confirming that he is a religious man, Mr Macleod does not believe that the lightning strike has any religious significance.
The weather bomb caused widespread lightning earlier this week, with a house in Callanish on the Isle of Lewis being struck twice within 24 hours. Phone lines and sockets exploded from the walls, roughcast cracked and curtains were scorched.
