A terrified Copesville family, in Pietermaritzburg, watched as their home went up in flames after it was struck by lightning yesterday afternoon.

The owner of the house, Evesh Singh, confirmed that lightning struck an old aerial that was on top of his house which caused the fire.

“My wife and my exotic birds were in the house at the time. Luckily, they were able to escape before the house caught flame,” said Singh.

Singh added that he is devastated about what has happened.

“It’s disappointing. I don’t know where to go from here honestly. The (municipal) disaster management people are currently here so I am hoping that they will assist us,” he said.

Copesville’s ward councillor Spha Madlala said he attended to the scene and was glad no one was injured.

“I attended the scene and also contacted the fire department and our disaster team will be attending to the family today.

“There were no injuries on scene just two green code women who were treated by KZN EMS on scene for shock and were both fine,” Singh.