Storms leave thousands without power

Bad weather hampered efforts to recconnect homes

Around 10,000 people across Leicestershire and Lincolnshire were without power on Tuesday morning, following overnight storms.

Electricity was cut late on Monday afternoon, when the first lightning storm struck.

Residents have been without power from 1700 BST Monday with problems persisting into Tuesday afternoon .

Attempts to reconnect power were disrupted by bad weather continuing through the night.

Dangerous conditions

Jonathan Smith from East Midlands Electricity said the extreme conditions had forced engineers to stop work.

"We had engineers out and about almost from the time of the first storm," he said.

"They had to be taken off at about 1am because it was simply too dangerous to continue in those conditions.

"We are doing absolutely everything we can to get everybody back as soon as possible."

Water problems

Another 1,000 homes in the Ashby-de-la-Zouch area are having problems with their water supply.

Many of the properties are suffering low water pressure or have no water at all.

The supplier, Severn Trent Water, says the problem has been caused by power cuts at some of its main pumping stations.