Tuesday’s thunder and lightning has left a scar in east London after a 300-year-old oak was struck.
Staff at the City of London Cemetery in Manor Park noticed the damage the following morning after the storm.
“It was due to the health and size of the tree that the lightning didn’t split the tree in half,” said a thankful cemetery superintendant Gary Burks.
“The bolt of lighting ran straight down to the earth. Hopefully the old oak will survive.”
Now cemetery staff have promised to keep a close eye on the tree in the coming weeks and months and make sure it gets some TLC.
The tree was there long before the cemetery was opened in the 1850s and has retained its pride of place in the garden of remembrance.
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