Oxford has been rocked by a huge explosion that sent a huge fireball into the sky, with fears that a lightning storm may have caused gas canisters at a waste plant to combust.

Police have urged residents to stay indoors and the A40 has been closed as a column of flames lit up the night sky this evening, with the fire seen roaring from miles around.

Severn Trent Green Power confirmed that lightning struck a tank at its plant in Yarnton earlier this evening.

A spokesperson for the company said: ‘Severn Trent Green Power can confirm that at around 19:20 this evening, a digester tank at its Cassington AD facility near Yarnton, Oxfordshire, was struck by lightning resulting in the biogas within that tank igniting.

‘We are working with the emergency services to secure the site and will provide further comments in due course.’

Unconfirmed reports have suggested that more than 1,000 homes lost power as a result of the explosion, with residents reporting outages in Witney, Burford, Chipping Norton and Milton-under-Wychwood.

A column of fire lit up the night sky this evening and flames could be seen roaring from miles around

Thames Valley Police said that its officers are ‘currently at the scene of a fire at a waste plant near Yarnton, Oxfordshire. 

‘It is believed that lightning struck gas containers at the site during bad weather this evening, causing a large fire.’

‘No one is believed to have been hurt, but emergency services remain at the scene. As a result of this, A40 has been closed between Wolvercote and Eynsham. 

‘To ensure public safety, residents are asked to stay home, shut windows and doors and not to attend the scene.’

One resident shared a clip of the fire raging in the distance as he speculated what might have caused it.

‘Saw this strange pulsing sky out of our windows looking north west of Oxford,’ Kit Yates wrote on X.

‘I’m guessing it’s a fire caused by the lightning storm that passed over.’

Videos show the night sky being turned an eerie orange after what locals described as a ‘loud explosion’.

Residents have shared videos of the fire raging after what a number of people have described as an ‘explosion’

Videos show the night sky being turned an eerie orange as the fire raged north west of Oxford

Mahmet Ciftci also posted on X: ‘Just saw something here in Kidlington that looked like an explosion in the distance. 

‘We heard a rumble like thunder and saw flames in the distance. The horizon went orange for a while.’ 

Joshua Bull wrote on X: ‘Definitely some kind of explosion – sounds like it’s out near Yarnton? Must have been huge, I’m in Marston and thought it was a car crashing outside my flat.’ 

It comes after thunderstorms swept over the area this evening, with a yellow weather warning issued by the Met Office covering much of the south east. 

The warning read: ‘Thunderstorms with frequent lightning have already affected parts of the warning area, these continuing into the evening in places. An increasing risk of longer-lasting intense downpours too, especially later this evening and further east across the warning area, for example towards south Lincolnshire and East Anglia. 

‘These storms are likely to be focused in relatively narrow bands, so some places will miss the worst, while a few locations might catch 25-50 mm of rain within 2 or 3 hours, along with frequent lightning and gusty winds.’ 

This is a breaking news story, more to follow…