Storm downs hospital phone lines

Some drivers were forced to abandon their cars at the weekend

A lightning strike has led to nearly 48 hours of disruption to telephone systems at a Kent hospital.

Engineers were still trying to restore normal services to Sevenoaks Hospital on Monday afternoon after thunderstorms on Saturday evening.

The South West Kent Primary Care Trust (PCT) said only one telephone line to the hospital was working on Monday.

"It would help if calls are restricted to essential calls until normal service is resumed," a spokesman said.

The PCT said the disruption had caused serious problems for anyone trying to get through to the hospital switchboard, individual wards, minor injuries, outpatients, day hospital and other departments.

The spokesman apologised for the inconvenience and asked for "forbearance".

He said it was not known when engineers would be able to restore a normal service.

Houses flooded

Torrential downpours caused flash flooding in parts of north Kent and Surrey over the weekend.

Heavy rain forced drain hole covers out of the ground, with Dartford town centre badly affected and a section of the A20 near Swanley closed to traffic.

Kent Police said motorists were left stranded after broken down vehicles had to be abandoned.

Areas affected in Surrey included Camberley, Weybridge and Esher.

A Surrey Fire Service spokeswoman said a number of homes were struck by lightning, and a few were flooded.