A MASSIVE lightning storm that raged across the North-East left more than 200 homes without power.

Lightning struck power lines in 25 incidents as the storm passed over County Durham and Teesside on Friday night.

And further thunderstorms are forecast in the region either today or tomorrow, according to Brendan Jones of PA Weathercentre.

Friday night's dramatic display was captured on film at about 10pm by Northern Echo reader Laura Coatsworth, of Middleton St George, near Darlington.

She said: "At one point, it seemed to be right overhead and then we could actually see it heading in the Middlesbrough direction.

"I went up to the bedroom and took loads of shots out of the bedroom window, and I was really lucky to get this one, which shows bolts of lightning."

A spokesman for Northern Electric Distribution Limited (NEDL) said that while the lightning strikes had not caused much damage, it caused a power surge that had blown fuses.

He said engineers worked through the night to replace the damaged fuses, which had resulted in the loss of power to more than 200 homes.

Supplies were gradually restored during Friday evening and into the early hours of Saturday.

The final homes to be reconnected, on Teesside, had power restored at 11am on Saturday morning. No permanent damage was caused.

Mr Jones said that the storm had worked its way across the country from the Manchester area.

He said: "It was caused by sunshine in the afternoon and that provided enough heat for those thunderstorms.

"It is very difficult to pinpoint where a storm is going to hit, but there is a chance of more thundery showers in the North-East early this week, perhaps Monday or Tuesday afternoon.

"Because temperatures are rising at this time of year, there tends to be more storms."

Fire brigades in the region said there was no major damage reported as a result of the storm.