'It's actually shaking the house' - Lightning storm hits Taranaki causing power cuts

May 14, 2018

At least 1300 properties are without power in Taranaki after lightning strikes early this morning.

Power has been restored to 1000 properties in New Plymouth after lightning strikes early this morning cut electricty.

The PowerCo website showed the suburbs of Lynmouth and Inglewood experienced outages from 3.26am and just before 4.00am on Monday.

Around 250 properties in Straford remain without electricity.

Taranaki Civil Defence says MetService advised that thunderstorms with potentially high rainfall rates of more than 25 millimetres an hour have moved into Taranaki early this morning.

"My god just got woken by a all mighty crack in Stratford!" one Facebook user wrote.

"I can't sleep through this thunderstorm. It's actually shaking the house," someone posted on Twitter.

MetService says rainfall of this intensity can cause surface and flash flooding, especially about low-lying areas such as streams and rivers, and could lead to slips.

A severe weather watch remains in place in the area until 9.00am.

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