On the night of Thursday 18 September 2014, Corsham, along with much of the south-west was hit by one of many localised storms. For several days preceding, the weather had been very hot and humid as the country experienced a mini September heatwave. Temperatures had increased gradually from Monday and temperatures of 24°C recorded on Thursday 18 were the highest since 29 July. A yellow Met Office weather warning had been issued for much of the South of the UK to ‘be aware’ of possible disruption from storms moving up from the south-east, but nothing particularly severe was expected. As night fell, thick cloud rolled in, preventing some of the warm air from escaping into the atmosphere, which kept temperatures high. This likely gave the storm more intensity as warmer air holds more energy. The storm arrived at around 9pm when the first rumbles of thunder were heard. At first there was no rain, just a significant electrical storm activity with deafening thunder and severe cloud-to-ground lightning. Thousands of flashes were recorded and this lightning map recorded by Blitzortung shows how intense this electrical storm was (Figure 1). Witnesses reported deafening thunder that was so loud buildings shook and power supplies were disrupted at times (Figure 2). Corsham's neighbouring town of Melksham bore the brunt of the lightning and one property was severely damaged by a direct strike. Unfortunately the affected property was equipped with solar panels, so the situation was made much worse due to the extremely high temperatures as solar panels are notoriously difficult to extinguish when they start to burn. The fire took several hours to control which meant that significant fire damage to the property could not be prevented. The owners were forced to move out for several months while repairs were completed and the next door property also suffered from considerable smoke damage (Figures 3 and 4). The heavy thunder and lightning was not the only aspect of the storm that grabbed the headlines; a while after the initial period of lightning, torrential rain began to fall. This hit Corsham the hardest, where roughly a month's worth of rain (60mm) was recorded over a four hour period, with most of it falling in a very short burst after midnight. The prolonged period of warm and dry weather meant that much of the ground was baked hard from the sun, which stopped some of the rain from being absorbed by the normally porous soil. This exacerbated the amount of surface runoff (overland flow) and probably added to the flooding. Geographically, Corsham is situated on high ground, and is not usually prone to flooding. The lowest area of the town happens to be the main railway line from London to the south-west (Figure 5). This area of Corsham is also largely paved so most of the rain that fell simply flowed through the streets. Surface flooding on roads leading down to the railway line entered several properties including a local car garage, which had an effect on business the next day. The rainfall was so intense that the surface floodwater flowed rapidly downhill towards the railway where steep embankments (which effectively became the sides of a river channel) lead down to the tracks. The volume of water was so great that a large length of the line became flooded in up to four feet of water (Figure 6). Unfortunately, a westbound train from London carrying 90 passengers became stranded at around 1am and had to be evacuated by the fire service in a five hour rescue operation. The train wasn't moved out until more than 6h later once the water had subsided and damage to the tracks had been assessed. As a result significant disruption to the line continued for the rest of the day. This was an unusually severe storm, especially for this part of the UK where lightning on this level had not been seen for several years, and Corsham had certainly not experienced flooding like this for decades. There had been little to suggest that a weather event of this magnitude was heading for Corsham and although some heavy showers had been forecast, nothing on this level was expected. Weather forecasters and the rail operators were clearly caught off guard as rail services continued to operate until it was too late and this storm also provided a stark reminder of the dangers of solar panels during lightning. In today's climate this storm was officially viewed by Wiltshire Council and Wessex Water as a 1-in-155 year event, which highlights its rarity, but climate change threatens to make weather events like this much more common. As the atmosphere warms, it will become more energised and storms like this are certain to happen much more frequently.