A YORK woman has spoken of her miracle escape after a bolt of lightning blew an electric brush out of her hand.

Eileen Pulleyn, 78, said she thought it was a miracle she was still alive after a "fireball" of lightning stuck houses in the St Benedict Road estate, near Nunnery Lane, on Sunday morning.

Mrs Pulleyn, who had been using an electric brush to style her hair, said: "I have never been so terrified in all my life.

"All of a sudden, there was this crash and I saw a big blue flash as if someone had snatched the brush out of my hand and pushed me from behind.

"I made the most awful scream. I can't explain what it feels like."

Several residents of the estate have had no telephone connection since the storm, and electrical appliances such as televisions and computers have been damaged.

Neighbour Keith Chapman, 56, said he believed the lightning had travelled along plastic-coated railings, crashed into a tree and travelled up the side of the flat. He said: "It has had a tremendous effect on quite a few people. It's knocked slates off the roof and there's quite a lot of damage.

"People are just trying to get over it now, this act of nature. I hope it never happens to us again."

Mr Chapman said he hoped to look into ways of protecting the properties from future storms.

He added: "We need to look at what preventative measure should be taken in the future. For instance, should we have trees next to buildings? How about lightning conductors? But nobody can control nature."

Updated: 10:31 Tuesday, June 24, 2003