A woman who decided to film at the window hoping to catch a lightning bolt leapt backwards when a massive lightning streak exploded on the ground in front of her apartment.

The footage was captured during a sudden rainstorm in the major sub provincial city of Ningbo in northeast China’s Zhejiang province.

The young woman, was not named, had decided to film the downpour and said she was hoping to catch some lightning.

But instead of seeing it streak across the sky, the massive lightning bolt tore down into shrubbery at the other end of the street causing a fiery explosion and a loud bang.

The unexpected blast terrified the young woman, who toppled backwards saying: “I was just scared to death.”

The lightning bolt was then shared on Chinese social media including the woman’s reaction where people sympathise with her terror.

One wrote: “I was also shocked on the other side of the phone.”

Another added: “Oh my God, how lucky this is. Pay attention to safety.”

While a third person noted that while she got up to look at the lightning, the “lightning had come down to look for her”.