Thousands of homes were left without electricity after a thunderstorm and floods caused chaos across Oxfordshire yesterday.

Mid-afternoon lightning strikes cut power to about 10,000 homes across the county. Witney was the most seriously hit.

Southern Electric reported lightning strikes on power lines at Ducklington, near Witney, and Wallingford.

Rush-hour commuters travelling home from the city last night also faced long delays, after First Great Western train services on the Cotswold Line were cancelled following signal faults in Moreton-in-Marsh.

Passengers were instead transferred to coaches.

After a warm but humid morning, heavy rain pelted down at about 3pm causing treacherous road conditions.

In Oxford, landlady Melanie Tysall's rented property - in Kingston Road, Walton Manor - was flooded.

She said: "The house flooded a month or so ago - and now this. We were ankle-deep in water."

Julian Reeves, of Southern Electric, said: "Around 30,000 homes in the Thames Valley area were left without electricity yesterday afternoon, and of that I would estimate 10,000 were in the Oxford area."

A spokesman for Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue said: "We received lots of calls about flooding and electric cables coming down."

Electricity in Witney was knocked out at about 3.55 pm cutting power to shops and traffic lights. Hailey Road was also flooded. Electricity was restored to some parts of the town by 4.50pm.