SLEEP was disrupted across Suffolk early today as the county suffered a stormy night.Fierce thunderstorms and lightning flashes woke up many people as the downpour swept north from the continent.

SLEEP was disrupted across Suffolk early today as the county suffered a stormy night.

Fierce thunderstorms and lightning flashes woke up many people as the downpour swept north from the continent.

In Felixstowe, a property was struck by lightning - after a bolt hit the TV aerial.

One fire crew from Felixstowe attended the incident at a flat above the Co-op store on the corner of High Street and Cage Lane in Walton at 2.56am.

Traffic was disrupted for a short while when one lane of the A14 at Nacton had to be closed after a small landslide.

Police attended the scene early today and the soil was cleared up quickly.

The county thankfully escaped any fresh power cuts - though electricity bosses said supplies may have dipped for a few seconds at the height of the storm.

An EDF spokeswoman said: “There are no ongoing major faults in the Ipswich or Felixstowe areas as a result of the lightning storm which crossed the area in the early hours.

“It is possible that some customers may have noticed a brief dip in supply lasting a few seconds if lightning struck our equipment but did not cause any permanent damage.”

Engineers worked late yesterday to reconnect supplies which were damaged during the wet and windy weather at the weekend.

Suffolk was one of the worst affected areas in the region with Risby, Levington and Acton all affected by faults caused by Monday's weather which brought wind gusts of up to 50mph.

Meanwhile, Sizewell B nuclear power station was one of nine generators which went off-line yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without power when electricity demand outstripped supply.

Homes and businesses across London, Cheshire, Merseyside and East Anglia were affected from around 11am to 1pm.

The blackouts were caused by the opposite of a power surge as the National Grid deactivated local stations to maintain the required 50hz frequency. When demand is greater than generation, the system fails.