Wales was hit by a storm so loud people said their houses shook, power was cut off and trees were brought down. Thunderstorms brought hail stones, heavy rain and lightning to parts of the country for several hours on Wednesday night, turning roads into rivers. One Cardiff resident said: "It was so loud, it genuinely shook things inside the house."
Photographer Paul Young, who managed to capture an image of lightning over his Cardiff Bay home, said: "I didn’t have to wait very long. The initial lighting strike lit up the house. The rumble of thunder shook the windows and that’s when I decided to have a look. Luckily I have a covered balcony."
Others reported power cuts, television signals being knocked out and a tornado brought down a row of trees on the A470 near Builth Wells. The main road between Builth Wells and Erwood remained closed on Thursday morning as the clear up operation continues. You can follow live updates here.
The air on Wednesday was "unstable" meaning it was a day of sunshine and heavy showers with hail and thunder in places. Gusts of 76mph were recorded on Mumbles Head, Swansea. And the forecast is not much better for Thursday. Another Met Office weather warning for high winds and heavy rain is in place between 10am and 7pm.
The warning says: "A narrow band of rain, heavy at times and perhaps briefly intense, will move eastwards late on Thursday morning and into the afternoon, clearing Kent during the evening. 10 to 15 mm is likely to fall in a 1 to 2 hour period, with around 20 mm in a few places.
"With saturated ground, this is likely to lead to a fair amount of surface water on roads and flooding in one or two places. Strong winds will be an additional hazard with gusts of 40-50 mph inland and perhaps briefly 60-70 mph along some exposed coasts, especially in Cornwall, Pembrokeshire, Gwynedd and Anglesey."
Met Office meteorologist Ellie Wilson said: "The strongest winds will be on the western coasts, with some pretty strong gusts of 40 to 50mph inland, with the possibility of 60 to 70mph gusts at the coasts."
Forecasters say a front will arrive late morning and up to 20mm of rain could fall in one to two hours. It will move through pretty quickly by the middle of the afternoon, but a bank of rain will then follow it throughout the afternoon. The wind won't ease until Friday morning, especially at the coast, but the Met Office said it was difficult to predict whether there would be structural damage.
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