THOUSANDS of homes were left without power last night after lightning strikes caused disruption to electricity supplies.
A spokeswoman for Electricity North West said that a number of faults had been reported across the region.
She said: “Lightning strikes are knocking off supplies.
“We had quite a few reports all over the area.
“We were working to get them back on as quickly as we could.
“It’s normally just a case of switching people back on, but if it’s caused a fault on the line that will take longer to repair.”
Jamal Kazi, 44, who owns Union News on Union Street in Oswaldtwistle was among those affected and said: “There were about 1,000 houses without power.
“I normally shut at 7.30pm but I had to close early because of the power cut.
“It was a big problem for me.
“I lost an hour and a half of business, and there was damage to my food.
“I had to throw my ice cream away because it all melted.”
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