All the damage was caused in a flash—a single flash of lightning that blew holes in their villa roof, vapourised a tall chimney stack and sent electrical sockets flying out of the walls.

For Sue and Tony Quickfall on Picao de Baixo it brought too close to home the awesome power of nature.

Friday’s electrical storm directly over Vale da Telha caused power failures and some damage. But nobody fared worse than the Quickfalls shortly after 8am when a flash of lightning struck their villa, the tallest building in that part of Paisagem Oceano.

In an instant—quite literally a flash—the chimney disappeared and the lightning blew several holes in the roof, setting a fire that, fortunately, the heavy rain quickly extinguished.

The power of the strike sent a wave of energy down the chimney and blew out the glass front on their fireplace, sending shards of glass flying around the living room.

Fortunately, the expats from Yorkshire were upstairs at the time and Tony recalled: “It was like a bomb going off.

“Brickwork, plaster and dust rained down, power sockets flew out of the walls, the internet phone connection melted and suddenly we could see the sky through the ceiling in one of the bedrooms.”

The blast left debris in surrounding gardens but didn’t diminish Sue’s down-to-earth Yorkshire humour.

“While I was moving the bed away from the water coming through the roof I found a 1 Euro coin that must have rolled under there some time. It shows that inside every cloud there’s a silver lining.”

The lightning strike also meant that Sue and Tony had to call off their long weekend to Gibraltar. They had been getting to ready to leave on the trip and Sue said: “It’s a good job we hadn’t set out earlier.”

Vale da Telha’s support system swung swiftly into operation for the two Amovate members, as a circle of friends raced to the house, and began work immediately repairing the damage, which will cost a considerable amount to put right but which, fortunately, is covered by insurance.