Thousands of homes were left without power after residents reported a "huge explosion" and "loud bang" with lights reportedly going out last night.

A number of residents took to social media to post about the incident with some claiming it could be caused by lighting in the town.

UK Power Networks say 2,000 homes lost power in the incident.

Some Southend residents say they also heard a loud bang.

One resident posted: "Anyone know what that load explosion was around Constable Way at around 12.45am? All lights went out and was a huge bang"

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Another added: "It scared the life out of me! Never heard anything like that before! So loud. I couldn’t get back to sleep after. Thought something had blown up."

A spokesperson for UK Power Networks said: “We believe the issue was with an underground cable. Specialist engineers in our control room worked remotely to divert and restore power. We also sent engineers to check our equipment.

"Around 2,000 properties experienced a powercut following the lightning strike, however power was soon redirected to most homes

"A fault on the electricity network caused a brief interruption to power for 2,008 customers in Shoebury at 12.32am this morning. UK Power Networks engineers restored 1,679 of those customers within two minutes with the remaining 329 back on supply at 1.02am.

"No damage was found to powerlines after a full inspection. We appreciate how difficult it is to be without power and apologise for any inconvenience caused."