Six York youngsters had an astonishing escape when they were hit by lightning while sheltering from torrential rain.

SHAKEN: Charlotte Rule, 12, of Gerard Avenue, York, who was struck by lightning Picture:Steven Bradshaw.

The three boys and three girls, all pupils at Burnholme School, had been huddling beneath an umbrella in a playing field off Stockton Lane when a brilliant flash threw them to the ground.

Their lucky scrape was just one of a string of near-accidents and mishaps as heavy thunderstorms battered the region.

Parts of Helmsley and Selby suffered flash floods, shoppers in Clifton Moor found their cars pelted with debris when the roof was torn from a store and thousands were left without electricity in the Selby area.

The six lightning-hit teenagers were all temporarily blinded when the bolt struck but Fiona Gregg, 13, suffered burns to a hand and foot as the lightning coursed through her body. She was today undergoing precautionary medical checks.

Fiona, of Bramley Garth, near Stockton Lane, said she could remember little of what had happened other than running home to find the house empty.

She and her friends went next door where a neighbour called an ambulance.

Her mum and dad, Elaine and Michael, say they cannot thank him enough.

"He took the children in and wrapped them up and kept them warm until the ambulance arrived," said Mrs Gregg.

"Fiona had been holding the umbrella and her hand was completely frozen in the shape of the handle."

Her friend, Charlotte Rule, 12, of Gerard Avenue, off Bad Bargain Lane, was still shaken by the lightning strike.

"We were all huddled together and Fiona was holding the brolly," she said.

"Suddenly there was this yellow flash and you could feel the force of it coming through you and we were thrown to the floor.

"It was a huge shock and really painful."

The other children hit by lightning were Darren Clayton, 13, Aaron Smith, 11, Keith Thompson, 15 and Vicky Wilson, 13, all from the Burnholme area.

They were allowed home after treatment.

Staff and customers at Harvey's furniture store had a narrow escape after lightning sent chunks of the pantiled roof crashing down into the car park.

Moments earlier salesman Michael Standlick and assistant manager Judy Cummins had been outside loading furniture.

"It was just lucky that no one was hurt," said Mr Standlick.

Fiona Finlay, from Ebberston, Pickering, had her L-registered Ford Mondeo's window smashed and its bonnet and wings dented by falling debris.

"We've only had the car about a year but it's not been lucky for us," she said. "The bonnet had to be replaced after we had a crash in the snow and now it's been struck by lightning, but it's only a car.

Two of Helmsley's landmark hotels were flooded out for the fourth time in two years as the storm swept over Ryedale.

Water cascaded through the bar door of the Feathers Hotel, while the cellar of the Black Swan Hotel across the Market Place was also flooded.

Graham Davies, manager of the Feathers, said: "I've been here for two years and I'm sick of this flooding."

Elsewhere in the country a lorry driver was killed in a crash on the M20 and six-year-old Liam Mohammed Zaid is feared to have drowned after he fell into the swollen River Stour at Cradley in the West Midlands. A body was found early today.

Forecasters today said the worst of rain had passed but the weather will remain cool and unsettled.

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