Thousands left without power as thunder and lightning wreak havoc across East Lancashire Thousands of people were left without power, and train services delayed on Wednesday after freak thunder storms wreaked havoc across East Lancashire. The worst of the disruptions were felt in Hyndburn as electricty outages were experienced in Great Harwood after lightning strikes affected overhead power lines, sending the network into chaos. Earlier on Wednesday a spokesperson for Electricity North West said: We have been experiencing higher volume of power cuts today due to the thunder and lightning affecting our overhead power lines. We understand that Great Harwood is particularly affected by these and we have a large number of resources dispatched to restore power.