On Monday, a lightning strike at a recycling plant in Oxford, London caused a gas explosion and subsequent power outages across the city. 

The blast took place at the Severn Trent Green Power Plant at Cassington, just north of Oxford. The explosion followed heavy rain accompanied by lightning strikes — putting the region under a  weather warning issued by the Met Office.

The Severn Trent Green Plant released a statement sharing, “Severn Trent Green Power can confirm that at around 7:20 p.m. this evening, a digester tank at its Cassington anaerobic digestion facility near Yarnton, Oxfordshire, was struck by lightning resulting in the biogas within that tank igniting.”

Though there were no reported injuries, six fire engines, 40 firefighters and police were immediately deployed to the site. The Cassington plant processes food waste turning it into biogas.  Following the blast, citizens reported seeing a “fireball” light up the night sky. Many described the blast as an orange glow that quickly faded after 20 seconds. Others shared videos and images on social media showing flames from the major fire northwest of Oxford.