THUNDERCLAPS ripped through the night's silence and lightening lit up the sky as the storm after the calm arrived and left many homes without power in its wake today.

THUNDERCLAPS ripped through the night's silence and lightening lit up the sky as the storm after the calm arrived and left many homes without power in its wake today.

The weather that woke up people across the region shortly before sunrise was a far cry from the cloudless skies, blazing sun and soaring temperatures that the county had basked in only hours before.

In the small hours today constant bright flashes and forked lightening brightened the skies across Suffolk while frequent explosions of thunder shook people in their beds.

Car and business alarms were set off by vibrations from the storm and electricity was cut to hundreds of homes and businesses.

Engineers worked throughout the morning to restore electricity after a spate of power cuts were caused by the ferociousness of the early morning thunderstorms.

Extra staff were also brought in by 24Seven in an effort to restore power as quickly as possible, although some areas were not expected to be reconnected until lunchtime.

A spokeswoman for the company said they had received a weather warning at 2.45am today and that it was expected to remain until at least midday.

"Staff are working round the clock to restore power," she explained.

"We've experienced a number of low voltage faults from situations like over head lines being effected by lightening. It's effected us across a number of areas so we've brought in extra staff to restore power as quickly as possible.

She added: "We would like to apologise to our customers for the inconvenience and ask them to bear with us.

"We're working round the clock but it will take time to restore power everywhere."