Lightning strike hits huge British Airways i360 tower sending huge flash of light streaking through the sky
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A bolt of lightning struck the British Airways i360 tower - causing an enormous flash of light to illuminate the night sky.
Nick Rutherford, a company director, began filming the world's largest moving observation tower as the storm started rolling in on Sunday night.
Footage of the storm shows a streak of lightning hitting the top of the 531ft tower in Brighton, and turning the sky a mysterious shade of purple.
Seaside houses can be clearly be seen lighting up in the footage, which is shot from Mr Rutherford's balcony.
(Photo: Newsflare)
The bolt then fizzles out and thunder then rain can be heard in the background.
It is thought to be the only existing footage of lightning hitting the £46.2 million tower, which was opened in August last year and designed by Marks Barfield, the same architect to design the London Eye.
The building has a vertical cable car that ascends to a height of 450 feet giving people 360-degree views of up to 26 miles.
The 41-year-old, who was at his home in Brighton, West Sussex, was shocked when the bolt of lightning suddenly appeared in the sky.
(Photo: Newsflare)
Mr Rutherford told MailOnline : "I went to the office on Sunday night to catch up on some work, and had seen on the forecast that a storm was coming.
"I had a look on the lightning app that I have on my phone – and could see a massive storm was close.
"The storm actually passed down the channel – but there were a few stray bolts of lighting. At the time I didn’t realise the tower had been hit as the flash was so bright it just lit up the sky.
(Photo: Getty Images Europe)
(Photo: AFP)
"It was only when I watched back the footage that I realised it had hit it."
Storms have been wreaking havoc across the UK for the last few weeks.
A group of students were almost hit by lightning as they filmed a Snapchat clip of a storm in Plymouth in May.
The bolt struck a building only a few metres away from them, raining down "fire" from the sky.