ONE of the most spectacular storms to hit Huddersfield for years saw the skies turn black.

Torrential rain and lightning accompanied the storm clouds, which hit the town late yesterday afternoon.

The storms lashed most of Huddersfield, bringing flash floods to several streets.

About 20mm (0.78ins) of rain fell in less than an hour as the skies turned black shortly after 4.45pm.

The storms were caused by a cold front coming in from the west, which collided with the current hot humid air.

Lightning strikes hit power supplies to several areas.

But the storms ended as quickly as they had started - and another heatwave could be on the way!

Huddersfield meteorologist Paul Stevens said: "The heatwave will build tomorrow and over the weekend.

"It should reach 24 deg Celsius (75 deg F), making it perfect for barbecues, and get even warmer by Monday or Tuesday, perhaps up to the 80s.

"But there's only a slim chance it will set a new record for September in Huddersfield-that was 30 deg back in 1906".

Mr Stevens said yesterday's storm was "unusual and spectacular".

He said the huge nimbus clouds were estimated at 25,000 feet deep and built up over the Welsh mountains and the Pennines.

Kirklees Council received 50 calls for help .

Mark Dobson, of the Highways Service, said: "It was bad but nowhere near as bad as the floods we have had in the last two years.

"Milnsbridge was the worst affected mainly because of work underway by Yorkshire Water to lay new storm and sewer drains.

"We had reports of manhole covers being lifted by the force of the rain and those will be repaired today. There were also reports of flooding in a handful of properties, and we took out sandbags".

Across the region, up to 18,000 homes were today waiting to have power restored after the severe thunderstorms.

Thunder, lightning and heavy downpours caused widespread disruption to power supplies across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire yesterday.

Engineers and emergency repair teams managed to restore power to 80,000 of 98,000 affected homes by 10.30pm but suspended all remaining work until first light.

A spokesperson for Northern Electric Distribution (NEDL) and Yorkshire Electricity Distribution (YEDL) said today: "Overnight, staff restored power to 13,000 customers. At present there are approximately 5,000 customers still without power.

"There are pockets of customers affected throughout the North East, Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire.

"Anyone without power in West Yorkshire is asked to call 0800 375 675."