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Lightning strikes leave thousands without power across Scotland

Thousands of homes were left without power after thunder and lightning storms struck down supplies across Scotland.

The area hit worst by Saturday’s unsettled weather was Orkney, where lightning strikes caused a 23-minute power cut from 5.20pm across the entire island.

About 13,000 properties were affected.

Thousands more homes across the mainland were also cut off from the electricity  network.

Scottish and Southern Energy Networks reported that supplies went down in up to 2,300 properties throughout the Highlands and the north-east because of the storms.

Most of the affected homes had the lights back on by about 6pm, however yesterday hundreds of customers were still left without power for much of the afternoon.

Over the course of the weekend, more than 5,000 lightning strikes were recorded across Scotland and parts of northern England.

The torrential rain that accompanied the stormy weather also resulted in localised flooding in many areas – just hours after some of the highest temperatures of the year were recorded in some parts of the country.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) put orange flood warnings in place across Moray, Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen.

Severe transport delays were also reported as a result of the weather, with train journeys cancelled or postponed due to dangerous conditions.

Rail services between Glasgow and Aberdeen were affected, and some journeys were cancelled outright due to flooding and trees falling on the line close to Stirling.

The weather is expected to settle down this week.

A spokesman for the Met Office said today is expected to be “rather cool” with cloudy showers in the morning, but with a drier afternoon across Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray and temperatures of about 15C.

Further rain is anticipated across much of the Highlands and islands this morning particularly on the west coast, but the sun should shine across the north this afternoon and early evening.

Tomorrow is forecast to bring sunny spells and smaller showers in regions across the north-east, Moray and Highlands, and cloudy weather with periods of light rain are predicted across the country on Wednesday.