WINDS of up to 70 mph left thousands of households across the two counties without power after overhead lines came crashing down.

Almost 1,700 households were without power in the Kidderminster and Hartlebury area yesterday after lines went down in four locations across Worcestershire on Tuesday night.

Winds of 65mph-70mph swept the north-east of the county, bringing down trees and snapping branches. Heavy rains accompanied the wind.

"At the northern flank of the low pressure area across the county winds were gushing to 65mph and even 70mph," said Evening News weatherman, Paul Damari.

"That's enough to bring down trees, often the cause of power cuts, when they fall on the lines. There's still quite a lot of foliage on them, which catches the wind."

South Worcestershire escapedmore lightly, with winds of 35mph-40mph, as it was "tucked in the centre" of the low-pressure belt. Hereford recorded average winds of 30mph, with gusts of 60mph in open areas. About 1,600 households lost power there.

Beverley Harrington, Press spokeswoman for Aquila Networks, the region's electricity supplier, said the company had worked hard to restore power by 7pm yesterday.

"Many of the faults were on our low voltage overhead line network, which tend to feed small clusters of customers in outlying areas.

"This meant that our teams had to cover a large number of faults over a greater area, therefore a small number of customers may have been off supply until tea time yesterday."

The damaged overhead lines affected 1,684 homes in the Kidderminster and Hartlebury area, with power off from 5pm on Tuesday to 7pm yesterday.

In Hereford, 1,600 customers were without power in the Madeley area for more than 20 hours, from 7.15pm on Tuesday to 3.30pm, yesterday.

Ms Harrington said Aquila Networks - a Midlands Electricity company - apologised for the inconvenience caused to customers and thanked them for their patience.

Customers who have concerns should phone the help line on 08457 331 331.