Gale force winds disrupt power

Engineers are preparing for further storms over the weekend after thousands of homes across Lincolnshire were left with no electricity on Friday.

The gale force winds had blown debris into high voltage power lines.

Power has now been restored to the vast majority of properties, although around 1,000 in the East Midlands are still without power.

Severe weather is expected in many areas with some coastal areas expecting winds of up to 70mph.

Cancelled bookings

Jonathan Smith from East Midlands Electricity said: "We will have engineers on standby.

"The problem with weather like this is always that you can never tell precisely where the faults are going to happen.

"But we've been winning the battle today and there's no reason to believe we won't carry on winning it over the weekend if there are more faults."

But But Helen Coy, the landlady of the Kings Head in Addlethorpe, near Ingoldmells, has had lots of caravan owners cancelling their stay this weekend.

She said: "Normally most people come down today but we've had numerous phone calls saying they're not going to risk coming down in this weather, because it's so bad."