Lightning smashes windows as Otley Council meets (From Wharfedale Observer)
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Lightning smashes windows as Otley Council meets
12:27pm Tuesday 17th July 2007 in Local news By Jim Jack
One of the civic centre windows blown out by lighning.
A LIGHTNING strike smashed three windows at Otley Civic Centre last night.
Users of the building saw a flash of light followed almost immediately by a deafening clap of thunder at around 8.40pm.
The blast blew out the window above the front entrance, sending large shards of glass all over the foyer, and also broke a window to the side of the foyer and another on the first floor.
At the time a full meeting of Otley Town Council was in progress.
No-one is sure if the damage was caused by a direct hit or by the lightning striking the lightning rod on the larger maypole in the square in front of the civic centre, on Manchester Square.
The affected windows were boarded up and the mess cleared away quickly afterwards, and the centre was open for business as usual today.
