A Paget man had a narrow escape during yesterday’s thunderstorms when a lightning bolt struck a tree just a few feet from where he stood.

Lloyd Smith described himself as the “luckiest man in Bermuda” after he escaped the strike unscathed.

Mr Smith, 66, had just left the Bermuda Housing offices on Tommy Fox Lane in St David’s when he saw a flash of light and was sprayed by branch fragments from the casuarina tree.

“I heard this great pow sound and there was a massive flash of light,” Mr Smith told The Royal Gazette.

“It was so fast it was just like a click of the fingers.

“The tree cracked and seemed to catch fire and the branch fragments went all over me. I would say I was around seven feet from the tree when the lightning bolt struck it.

“I just kept on walking, I did not stop.”

The incident happened at about 1.20pm yesterday as the island was lashed with torrential downpours.

Mr Smith added: “Just after it had happened I felt a pressure from my ear to my jaw.

“I feel like the luckiest man in Bermuda at the moment.”

Meanwhile, yesterday’s thunderstorms also caused serious flooding problems in Hamilton. Several roads across the city were left under water forcing drivers to take alternative routes.

Operations at L.F. Wade International were suspended for just over half an hour owing to lightning strikes, one of which knocked out the airport’s radar for a short period. The continuing presence of lightning in the afternoon resulted in minor delays to a handful of flights leaving the island. Weather forecasters revealed that between 3am yesterday and 4pm 0.97 inches of rain fell at the weather station making a total of 2.77 inches for the month so far. The average rainfall for August is 5.64 inches.

• Send your flood photographs to news@royalgazette.com or photos@royalgazette.com