A second wave of heavy rain will hit Dorset tonight after the county was battered by storms yesterday morning. 

Trees fell, electricity cables were down and homes suffered power cuts following the severe weather, which continued over the course of the day yesterday.

In Chickerell, the strong winds shattered a pane of glass at a bus stop, captured by India Carter: 

Dorset Police reported that drivers were ignoring 'road closed' signs on the A37 at Stratton, where flooding was particularly bad and firefighters had to rescue several cars from the water. 

On Thursday, the Met Office issued a yellow 'be aware' weather warning for wind in the south west which was in place until 10am yesterday morning.

It forecast that 60 mph gusts were expected in places, and close to 70 mph at times in the most exposed coastal locations. 

Deep flood water was causing long delays between Frampton and Maiden Newton. 

There was also flooding on the A356 Dorchester Road between Hill View and Church Lane. Travel Dorset reports that the water is particularly bad on the bends and could take drivers by surprise.

A traffic light head was 'swinging in the wind' at the Mercery Road junction on Dorchester Road, Weymouth. An engineer is en route to fix the light. 

In Wareham, a tree had fallen onto Grange Road between the Springfield Hotel and the railway bridge, bringing down telephone cables with it.

There were also reports of a fallen tree on Nottington Lane, Weymouth, between Buckland Ripers and Nottington.

The Met Office has now released a further yellow 'be aware' warning for rain this weekend.

A spokesperson said: "Heavy rain is expected across much of south east Wales, south west England and parts of central and southern England from Saturday evening and overnight into Sunday morning.

"Bus and train services will probably be affected along with spray and flooding on some roads making journey times longer. Flooding of a few homes and businesses is also possible."

The warning will be in place from 6pm on Saturday until 9am on Sunday.

Andy Lyons captured this incredible footage of lightning this morning in Swanage: 

  • Power cuts were affecting residents with DT3, DT9 and DT11 postcodes

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks had reported the power failures due to damage to overhead lines and cables.

157 homes were affected in the Chickerell area when power was lost just before 7.15am. The majority are now restored but 32 are still without power. 

SSEN estimated that all electricity will be restored by 12pm.

136 homes were without power around the Broadwey and Preston areas of Weymouth. It was expected to return by 12.30pm.

Power was due to be restored to the DT9 area, in which 50 homes were without electricity, by 1pm and to the DT11 area by 4pm. 

Samantha O'Connor, spokesperson for SSEN, said: "We would like to apologise to all of those without supply. We have engineers on site at each affected area and are doing all we can to restore supplies as safely and quickly as possible."

Dorset Echo:

Areas affected by power cuts. Picture: SSEN

  • Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service says it was called to numerous vehicles stuck in flood water overnight and this morning. It urged motorists to avoid surface water and not attempt to drive through it.

Three crews from Maiden Newton, Dorchester and Bridport were called to rescue a car from flood water on the A37 at Stratton, just after 8am this morning.

Firefighters were called to an incident of flooding at a house on Dodhams Lane, Bridport, at around 7.25am today. Advice was given by crews at the scene.

  • A flood alert was issued for rivers and streams in west Dorset. 

Water levels in rivers including the Rivers Lim, Winniford, Char, Simene, Brit, Asker, Mangerton and Bride were rising and were forecast to exceed bankful conditions.

Up to 15 mm of rainfall was forecast for throughout the day yesterday. Further rainfall and possibly higher river levels are also forecast for today.

Water levels in the River Frome and tributaries from Dorchester to Wareham were rising and were forecast to exceed bankful conditions. Up to 10 mm of rainfall was forecast between 6pm yesterday evening and 9am today.

There were reports that the River Asker had burst its banks affecting routes in and out of Askerwell.