A power cut has left nearly 700 homes in the Pembrokeshire village of Templeton, near Narberth, without electricity as thunderstorms hit Wales on Thursday. The National Grid website shows around 700 properties are affected, with power expected to be restored by 3.30pm.
Yellow weather warning in place
The Met Office issued two yellow weather warnings for Wales earlier this week as thunderstorms struck the nation. A yellow warning remains in place covering the whole of Wales until 10pm on Thursday, with up to 75mm of rain expected in some places. The warnings state there is a small risk of power cuts and flooding.
A National Grid spokesperson said: "Engineers are working to get your electricity back on as quickly as possible. We're sorry for the disruption." They added: "We give you our best estimate for when your power will be back on, based on what we know at the time. Times might change if we face unexpected challenges getting to the fault. These times show when the last person in the area will have power back - most of you will be reconnected before this."
Residents describe disruption
Local resident Tyler Mears said: "I live near Narberth in Pembrokeshire and we had some really heavy rain this morning. Just after a big downpour, my power went off. It looks like all my neighbours are affected too. The power keeps going on and off now, which is a bit frustrating, especially working from home. I'm not sure if the rain shower caused it, but it did happen right afterwards. Looking online it seems like the whole of my village is down and National Grid say it won't be fixed until 3.30pm."
The Met Office yellow warning says flooding and lightning strikes could cause delays or cancellations to bus and train services, while surface water and sudden flooding may lead to road closures. Some communities could become cut off if roads flood, and homes and businesses could be flooded at short notice. Buildings could be damaged by floodwater or lightning strikes, and power cuts are also possible, potentially affecting other services.
Flooding in the West Midlands
The storms follow hot weather across the UK which coincided with extremely dry conditions. The Met Office has previously said the UK is on course for its hottest summer on record after five heatwaves, with temperatures of up to 38.1C recorded in London.
In Birmingham, West Midlands Fire Service said it was called out to "significant flooding" on Wednesday evening. Ryan Goodwin, whose home was damaged, described seeing a "river coming round the corner" before his property was flooded. He said: "About 7.30pm I got home, I was in the car with the kids and I thought I don't want to get out yet, there's too many puddles here. Then in a matter of about half-an-hour, it was just a river coming round the corner, all the way down the road."
Describing the damage, he told the Press Association: "It's gone under the laminate flooring in the front room. The conservatory got flooded, the electrics went off. The conservatory had about three foot of water, luckily that is below the house level. The neighbours' carpet and sofa and everything got wet as well. Down the road, they have two hills running into the corner, it was halfway up their doors, so I think we got a bit lucky here, really."
Stephen Dixon, a spokesman for the Met Office, said Lichfield in Staffordshire reported the highest rainfall of 52.8mm between 5am and 9am on Thursday, which he said "is obviously relatively high considering the lack of rainfall recently". He added: "We've seen various thundery showers through the day yesterday and that risk continues through much of today as we've got a band of thundery showers moving gradually northwards. It's important to note that not everywhere within that warning area will see the heaviest of those downpours. Thunderstorms by their very nature are hit and miss so it's hard to pick out individually where they will bubble up with the way the atmosphere works. But some places through the day could see 50mm again in a relatively short period of time, and possibly up to 75mm of rain through a 12-hour period."
Dixon noted that thunderstorms in the summer are not uncommon, but this summer has rarely seen the kind of thunderstorms that often follow heatwaves. He said the rain is falling on relatively hard ground after a lack of rain over much of the summer, which can increase the chance of surface water and the impact of flooding on roads.
