Thousands of people in the Lowestoft area were plunged into darkness when a major power cut hit the town last night.

The cut happened at about 8.55pm and saw electricity to thousands of homes and businesses between Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth lose power because of a storm.

Lowestoft's bascule bridge was hit by traffic signal problems and traffic lights through the cut went down.

Alarms could be heard as the power cut cause many to be triggered.

UK Power Newtworks told the Journal electricity was restored to homes and businesses by 10.18pm and apologised for the disruption.

A spokesman for the energy company said: 'UK Power Networks engineers restored electricity supplies to several thousand customers between Lowestoft and Yarmouth after a power interruption at about 8.55pm on Wednesday night as a storm was moving through the area.

'The first customers had power again within 20 minutes with all supplies back on, in stages, by 10.18pm.

'We apologise to customers for the inconvenience this caused and our engineers worked to reconnect all electricity supplies as soon as possible.'

Lowestoft police said it carried normal patrols during the power cut and the coastguard station at Great Yarmouth was also struck forcing it to rely on a back-up, battery operated power supply until normal supplies could be restored.

Wednesday's stormy weather proved to be a major problem for Suffolk Coastal MP Dr Therese Coffey who faced a mad dash across London to appear on BBC2's Newsnight.

Dr Coffey was en route from Ipswich to London at around 8.15pm when her train was delayed by the cable problems.

The politician made it just in time to debate the latest on the phone hacking scandal.

Last night's power cut has also led to problems this morning to some Waveney District Council telephone lines.

A spokesman for the council said: 'Due to a power failure there is a problem with some council telephone numbers.

'Please call the customer call centre on 01502 562111 for any enquiries.'