A SCHOOL was forced to close after a lightning bolt struck a neighbouring property during a thunderstorm.
Wood Memorial School, in Saltney, was closed on Monday (June 1) following the incident which occurred in the early hours of last Thursday.
A neighbouring block of flats was reportedly struck by lightning - causing a power surge which continues to affect properties in the area.
Cllr Aled Roberts, the newly elected Saltney mayor, and school governor, said: "The school is shut today (Monday) for health and safety reasons whilst work to repair and clean up after a neighbouring property having been struck by lightning.
"The school should reopen hopefully tomorrow (Tuesday, June 2) I believe.
"The school itself wasn’t struck but it was one of the flats next door that was directly struck which caused an electrical surge to neighbouring properties.
"Luckily the flat is unoccupied at present so the outcome could have been much worse.
"I know a high volume of business and residential properties were impacted, including my street, due to the surge causing damage to telephone services in the area."
A number of businesses situated nearby remain without landline phones and internet.
Among those affected is John Knowles Funeral Directors. A spokesperson for the company said: "It's had a massive impact on us. Not having phones working as a funeral directors makes things very difficult.
"Thankfully we have an office in Broughton which can pick up calls. But hopefully our phones and internet are back on soon."
Ben Ryan, who owns Practical Car and Van Rental, said: "It's had a big impact on my business. We're struggling to take calls and payments. All our computers are linked.
"This is the age we're in now, when the internet goes down you lose everything. It affects fire alarms and everything. We depend on it so much now. I haven't seen anybody from Openreach to tell us when we'll be back online.
National Tyres and Autocare, situated next door, has also been badly affected.
Its manager, Jack Neil, said: "It's had a massive impact. I've got no phone line so no one can ring in or out. I'm having to call customers using my personal mobile and powering the internet using my mobile data.
"I'm just waiting for the complaints to come in now from customers who've tried contacting us. To have just one customer's car in the car park is really bad for us."
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One nearby resident had a lucky escape when the incident occurred. "It was between 1.30am-2am," she said. "I was sat in the lounge and there was a flash by the landline and then a big loud bang.
"It knocked off our phone, and an engineer who came out said the electricity came down the phone line. I feel very relieved that I wasn't stood in the corner where the phone was.
"It damaged some of our computer equipment as well, and I know a lot of other people had equipment damaged. It was one of the worst electrical storms I've ever seen."
Openreach has been approached for comment.
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