Hundreds of homes are without power tonight as Storm Ciarán hits Dorset.

West Dorset has experienced thunder and lightning this evening, with gale force winds and heavy downpours.

Homes in the DT6 area are experiencing a widespread power cut.

A spokesperson for National Grid said: “We are aware of this power cut incident and our engineers are working to get the power returned as quickly as possible.

“We are sorry for any inconvenience this is causing you.”

Engineers were working to restore power to 572 properties in the following postcodes by 1am, however, in an update at 1am, 249 homes were still without power with an updated time of 5am: 

DT6 3EF DT6 3HY DT6 3HZ DT6 3JT DT6 3RU DT6 3RX DT6 3RZ DT6 3SA DT6 3SB DT6 3SD DT6 3SE DT6 3SH DT6 3SJ DT6 3SL DT6 3SN DT6 3SP DT6 3SR DT6 3SS DT6 3ST DT6 3SU DT6 3SX DT6 3SY DT6 3SZ DT6 3TA DT6 3TB DT6 3TD DT6 3TE DT6 3TF DT6 3TG DT6 3TQ DT6 3UJ DT6 4AW DT6 4LH DT6 4LQ DT6 4NN DT6 4NP DT6 4NR DT6 4NS DT6 4NT DT6 4NU DT6 4NW DT6 4NY DT6 4PD DT6 4PE DT6 4PF DT6 4PG DT6 4PH DT6 4PQ DT6 4PR DT6 4RS DT6 4RZ.

A further 38 homes in the following postcodes could be fixed by 2am: DT6 3EA, DT6 3EF, DT6 3EG, DT6 3EH, DT6 3EQ