A cancer survivor narrowly avoided having her legs "blown off" after a pavement exploded.

Christine Somers was walking her dog along Well Winch Road, Sittingbourne, when a series of blasts happened behind her.

The 57-year-old turned to see flames erupting from the pavement and the road cracking open.

She said: “I was really scared, only seconds before I had walked over it –it would have blown my legs off.”

“I was really scared, only seconds before I had walked over it –it would have blown my legs off” - Christine Somers

"A woman came out of her house and said, ‘you just missed that!’

“I turned around and the road was on fire. I thought it was something like a petrol bomb."

When Mrs Somers, who has only just recovered from breast cancer, returned to her home in Hythe Road, she asked her husband Stuart to go and investigate.

The extent of the explosion and how close she was to being seriously injured only became clear after he came back.

The entire road had been cordoned off, and signs put up warning about high voltage cables underneath the pavement.

The blasts, which happened at 9.20pm on May 25, also caused a mass power outage with more than 2,200 homes in the Sittingbourne and Newington area affected.

A spokesman for UK Power Networks, which owns and maintain electricity cables and lines across the South East, said: “The safety of the public and our staff is UK Power Networks’ top priority and we were concerned to hear about this incident, which is being investigated.

“To keep the South East powered, we have more than 30,000km of underground cables and although cable faults can occur, it is rare for them to have any external impact.”

Kent County Council confirmed it had been informed of the fault by the company.
A spokesman said: “They are now repairing this and expect to complete the work by Monday, June 8.”