‘A super bolt lightning strike exploded my fireplace and I’ve had a hole in my roof ever since’

A family has been left with a hole in their roof after a “super bolt” lightning strike hit it, but three months later the owner has still not fixed it.

The force of the bolt was so strong it “exploded” the fireplace in one of the properties in Barnfield Avenue, Mitcham, on November 16.

Vasyl Iskiv, 41, a builder from Ukraine with two children, who lives at the top of the building, said the lightning strike “was like a bomb”.

“It was so scary,” he said. “I was watching a movie, the kids were in bed and my wife was in our bedroom.

“Suddenly, I heard a loud bang. I was very confused and then I ran to the bedrooms to check that the kids and my wife were OK.

“I didn’t understand what it was because it sounded to me like a bomb. Then I went outside and found my downstairs neighbour in the garden. She then told me that lightning had hit our accommodation.

“Luckily, nobody was injured after the accident.”

The bolt left a hole in the roof of the building next to the chimney flue, and Mr Iskiv’s family have been dealing with leaks and cold weather ever since. However freeholder Clarion is yet to fix the problem.

The flat was covered in black mould as a result. Mr Iskiv is a tenant and said his landlord is in hospital so he has been left to fix the roof.

“Someone came many times to temporarily fix the roof but even until this day, nothing is fixed properly,” said Mr Iskiv.

“We had a very bad leak the day before Christmas Eve, so we contacted Clarion to send someone to fix the damage, but nobody came, so I had to climb up on to the scaffolding and patch up the roof tiles that weren’t there.

“I can’t believe that this has kept on going for more than two months and I still don’t know how long it is going to take. We have lost a few belongings as well.”

Another resident in the building, Charlotte Luddington, said she had a narrow escape as she had been in the garden five minutes before the bolt sent brickwork and masonry from the chimney to where she was stood.

“It’s like fate,” she said. “I could’ve been killed.

“I was at home on my own and it was such a monumental bang, it sounded like a bomb going off. I called the London Fire Brigade and they evacuated the building over gas leak concerns but we were back the next day.

“We lost a lot of expensive electrical gear, the fuse box and lightbulbs exploded. The kitchen tiles were fully blown out of the wall.”

Ms Luddington claimed she had spent a total of 15 hours over the past two months on the phone with Clarion to fix the hole in the roof.

“Someone came round and put emergency scaffolding on the roof on November 18, and that’s it, we’ve been through Christmas and snow without a roof.

“They said the temporary fix was watertight but my neighbour went into the attic and took out 10 litres of water with a bucket. They are doing their utmost not to fix this problem.”

Ms Luddington claimed they set three dates for a repair team to come and access the property to fix the roof, but each time no one turned up.

A Clarion spokesman said: “Our team visited the homeowners when the lightning strike was reported.

“Once there, they erected scaffolding to make sure the roof was weather tight and safe until a full repair is completed.

“We determined that the lightning strike had caused extensive damage to sections of the roof which would require a complex repair.

“We do apologise for the time it has taken for the repairs to start, but we have had to liaise with our insurance team to scope out and agree the require works.

“We understand that the damage to the roof has allowed some water ingress which has resulted in some mould and damp.

“We take every case of condensation, damp and mould very seriously, so the team has been working with the homeowners to address this and will continue to keep them updated on the progress of the roof repair.”

Pictured top: Vasyl Iskiv and the fireplace which “exploded” (Picture: Vasyl Iskiv)