About 32,000 homes and businesses in the borough were left without electricity after lightning struck a South Shields substation, causing power cuts.

Roads were flooded, and 400 youngsters were forced to take refuge at the Customs House in South Shields as the storm broke.

The region is believed to have been hit by 1,100 lightning strikes and almost 36mm of rain fell yesterday - compared to the monthly average of 48mm.

Businesses in King Street and Waterloo Square are counting the costs after being forced to close as the worst of the storms hit.

Some phone lines were still down today as engineers worked to solve the problem.

A spokeswoman for CE Electric, said: "The lighting activity was very significant at one time we were getting 1,100 strikes across the area.

"One of the sub-stations was struck by lightning which affected electricity supplies to 32,000 properties across South Shields and Jarrow.

"It went off at 3.27pm and was restored in the majority of properties by 4.18pm, with the remainder back on by 5.07pm.

"Throughout the region engineers worked through the night after 80,000 customers were affected and this morning 400 properties were still without electricity.

"We are watching the weather very carefully and do have emergency plans in place."

The new Asda store in Coronation Street, South Shields, was forced to close due to flooding.

Businesses in King Street were also affected with fire crews from Hebburn called in pump out the water.

The Shields Gazette office in Chapter Row and nearby shops in Waterloo Square were also affected. Phone lines were still off this morning.

In Jarrow an autistic centre attached to Jarrow School in Field Terrace remains closed today after rainwater flooded the unit.

Council bosses said a number of their services were still having problems with phone lines today including Landreth House in Tyne Dock, the Referral Assessment Team and Community Family Support Service in Laygate, and offices in Barrington Street, all South Shields.

The heavy rain also caused chaos on the roads with Ocean Road closed to traffic while firefighters soaked up excess water as the drains struggled to cope with the heavy rainfall.

Traffic lights were also affected in the Riverside area of South Shields.

At the Customs House the 5pm showing of Ice Age was cancelled after the ticket machine broke and the gallery and cellar was also flooded.

Executive director Ray Spencer said: "During the second power cut our ticket server got frazzled and we lost everything."

Metro services between Pelaw and South Shields were halted after lightning caused signalling problems. The service was affected for around two hours.

Emergency services said they had received dozens of calls during the afternoon.

The storms also caused chaos elsewhere in the region, though parts remained unscathed.

A builder had a lucky escape after part of a bridge collapsed on to a house during heavy rain.

Flood water washed masonry from an old railway bridge under the A68 at Rowley, near Castleside, at Consett, Co Durham, yesterday afternoon.

The man had to escape through an upstairs window, as bricks crashed into the ground floor.

The A68 was initially closed but the northbound carriageway was opened later and a contraflow system set up.

One of our nearest weather stations in Albemarle, Northumberland, recorded 35.8mm of rain yesterday, with 16.7mm falling between 4pm and 5pm.

A spokesman from the Met Office said: "There was an awful lot of rain falling yesterday during a very short space of time.

"The monthly average for July is around 48mm, so nearly half a month's rain fell within one hour."

Temperatures are expected to reach up to 26C today, and it will remain sunny. However, heavy thunder showers are predicted for dawn tomorrow.

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