Thousands of homes were left without electricity in west Cumbria, after strong winds continued to cause mayhem.

Faults were reported in the St Bees, Egremont, Cockermouth and Workington areas, with about 5,000 properties affected at about 6.45pm.

There were 1,200 affected in the St Bees and Braystones area alone - believed to have been caused by overhead cable problems.

A spokesman for Electricity North West confirmed the power provider was aware of several separate faults caused by high winds.

They managed to restore power to 4,000 properties within the first two hours, but about 1,000 remained without electricity.

A food van - serving hot food and drinks - was diverted from Watermillock, near Helvellyn, to Cleator to offer support to residents.

By midnight power was supplied to half of the remaining 1,000 properties before engineers were faced with a fresh problem in Seascale which left another 700 without electricity.

Engineers from Electricity North West continued to work through the night, managing to restore power to the vast majority of homes in the early hours.

Around 60 homes are believed to be without power this morning across west Cumbria but they are not believed to be linked to the weather-related incidents overnight caused by damage to overhead cables.

Engineers' efforts in Cumbria were part of Electricity North West's work to restore power to 20,000 properties across the region which had been affected by Storm Ophelia.

Chris Fox, network systems manager, for Electricity North West, said last night: "While we’re pleased to have restored power to the 20,000 properties affected by the initial storm, we have seen further power cuts in Cumbria this evening which we are working to fix as soon as possible.

"Thanks to customers for their understanding throughout the day, and thanks to our engineers for braving the wind and now rain to restore these latest faults.”