A bolt of lightning struck a septic tank in Florida, the US setting off a chain reaction that obliterated a couple's toilet.

Luckily, no one was using the commode when it blew up during a storm on Sunday, said Marylou Ward, who owns the house in Charlotte county in west-central Florida.

"It used to be our toilet," Ward told the local news outlet Wink. 

"We have nothing now."

Photos show the toilet in bits and, outside the house, a trail of what looks like freshly turned soil running from the septic tank to the bathroom.

Lightning ignited methane gas from fecal matter built up in the pipes, Jordan Hagadorn, owner of A-1 Affordable Plumbing, which dealt with the incident, told USA Today.

"The toilet exploded in home owners master bathroom sending porcelain airborne like a missile (the porcelain penetrated into wall). Most likely all sewer piping will need to be replaced and septic tank," the plumbing company wrote on Facebook.

AFP