A MOTHER Jacqui Hudson managed to escape virtually unscathed from her wrecked home after a lightning strike which happened during a torrential thunderstorm that brought chaos to the county.

Mrs Hudson, 46, was talking to a friend on her bedroom telephone when the bolt of lightning struck at 3pm the height of Saturday's storm.

As the flaming ceiling collapsed on top of her, setting fire to the pillows, the mother-of-two put out the flames with her bare hands. She later needed treatment for burns.

A neighbour in Tilgarsley Road, who had seen the lightning hit the TV aerial, rushed around with two fire extinguishers and helped Mrs Hudson's husband, Chris, also 46, to put out the fire in the attic.

Mrs Hudson, a clerical assistant in a local health centre, said: "The ceiling fell on top of me. It was terrifying. I think we were very lucky. The fact that nobody was hurt is the main thing, even though it's a wreck inside the house."

The lightning strike was one of 160 calls attended by firefighters on Saturday, after the storm brought floods to numerous parts of the county, including Botley, Old Marston, and Summertown, Kidlington and Bicester.

Met Office spokesman Andy Bodenham said Oxfordshire suffered the worst storm in the UK, with 40.8mm of rain in under two hours a month's worth of rain He added: "Once again Oxfordshire got more than a month's rainfall in a couple of hours. There seems to be a pattern emerging, with long periods of dry sunny weather and above-average temperatures followed by thunderstorms."

In Oxford, Botley Road was closed in both directions from about 4pm after the section under the railway bridge flooded, and vehicles on the Osney Mead industrial estate were stranded after parts of Ferry Hinksey Road were left submerged.

The flooding beneath the railway bridge caused tailbacks throughout the city centre, stretching from Hythe Bridge Street, through Beaumont Street and Walton Street and, in the other direction, along Botley Road towards the Botley Interchange. Firefighters had to pump it out.

It was a similar story when a flash-flood saw a lake over 2ft deep form under the Blackbird Leys Road/Barns Road bridge over the Eastern Bypass.

Traffic was stacked up in both directions and local teenagers watched as cars had to mount the kerb on the central reservation to get through the water.

Vans were able to continue normally, but even then the water reached the grilles on the front of the vehicles.

Shoppers in the city centre were forced to run for cover but still did not manage to escape the damp in the Clarendon Centre, which partially flooded.

Lingerie store Bravissimo, in Broad Street, was forced to close after water seeped in. At Boots the Chemist, in Cornmarket Street, shoppers were evacuated due to safety fears because of thunder and lightning. Clothes store Republic also shut, together with the neighbouring pastry shop.

Visitors to the gym at Ferry Sports Centre in Summertown were turned away because of flooding.

Ian Simpson, 61, of Beechey Avenue, Old Marston, said his road was severely waterlogged at the junction with Oxford Road. "It's the worst flooding I have seen in 30 years," he said.

Homes off Botley Road were flooded. Maggie Roman, 79, of Old Botley, behind McDonald's in Botley Road, was flooded for the fourth time in 40 years, and lost carpets, electrical goods, books and photo albums.

She said: "It all happened so quickly and now I'm making a list for the insurers. Thankfully the neighbours have been wonderful helping me to clear up, so I'm putting a brave face on it."

In Kidlington, there was flooding and power was lost for 90 minutes. The Kidlington Gala was rained off.

Justin Reay, a naval historian who lives in Cherry Close, Kidlington, said cars in his street were waterlogged and it was lucky homes had escaped flooding.

He added: "The water was lapping our doorstep."

A tree was brought down in Wantage and many others shed branches and twigs in the wind. Steven Hubbard, who lives in Limborough Close, off Mill Street, Wantage, watched as black sewage flowed out of his toilet as rain swamped the town. He and his neighbours had been dogged with problems ever since developers at a nearby building site fractured a sewer pipe last month.

There were also reports of flooding in Bicester.

Peter Cleary, Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service's risk reduction manager, said two houses and five trees were reported hit by lightning.

"The weather actually swept across the county sideways," he said. "It really affected Oxford, Eynsham and Bicester but not the south.

"We pulled fire engines in from around the county and had to prioritise life-threatening emergency calls and property protection calls."