The owner of a nursery which was hit by lightning said the building now looks like a "war zone" while revealing young children had a lucky escape.
Ready Set Go Day Care in Worle, on the outskirts of Weston-super-Mare, suffered serious damage when it was hit by lightning during a storm on June 7.
Five people were injured when the ceiling collapsed at around 6pm, which also caused tiles to fly from the roof and hit nearby cars.
Director Tara Maher was in Chepstow, Wales, on a weekend away when she received a distressed call.
Her first thought was for the children who could have been inside.
She said: "Someone rang me screaming down the phone.
"Everyone was panicking. They didn't know if everyone was out, which was obviously my first worry.
"I came straight back.
"When I got there the road had been sealed off and there was fire crews and ambulances.
"It was pouring down with hailstones, too. It was horrendous."
Ms Maher, 47, said everyone got out, although some had suffered minor scrapes and bruises.
However, it could have been very different if the bolt had struck earlier.
"Thank God it had gone 6pm," Ms Maher said. "If the parents and children were still in there they would have never got out.
"I still can't believe it's happened."
'Like a war zone'
Ms Maher, who runs the company along with Sam Filer, said the nursery will now need a complete rebuild before it can reopen.
She said: "It looks like a war zone.
"The ceiling came down instantly, and the lights.
"A member of staff got hit by boxes falling from the loft.
"There's a three-foot hole in the garage where we sit, where the lightning exited.
"All the sockets have been blown out and the computers have been blown up.
"It's just a mess."
Ms Maher said she is in contact with her insurance provider but added she has already had numerous offers from other companies - and has been touched by the support of the community.
A Go Fund Me page set up by the local community has already raised more than £1,300 towards a target of £5,000 to help with the costs.
"It's so nice - people have been brilliant," she said.
"St Mark's [a nearby primary school] has offered some rooms for the toddlers and babies to go in.
"We're trying to sort the toys out now so the kids can go to different venues."
The nursery has temporarily relocated to Mendip Green Primary School nearby.
Weston-super-Mare was hit hard by the weather, with parts of Worle and Locking also affected by flooding.
Worle High Street was left several inches under water after the drainage system struggled to cope with the deluge.
North Somerset Council is now planning to carry out a survey of the drainage network as more bad weather is forecast this week.
A council spokeswoman Zoe Briffitt said: “We will be carrying out an inspection of the drainage system in Worle High Street following the storms on Friday.
“We do not know whether the flooding was a case of the drains temporarily being over capacity due to the level of rain which fell.
“Following the checks we will carry out any work needed.
“We carry out regular gully and drain clearance as part of our maintenance programme.”
