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Thousands of homes were left without power as Storm Pia brought high winds to the north-east of England.

Properties in Northumberland, County Durham and the North Pennines were affected by power cuts that Northern Powergrid described as "major".

It said earlier that more than 47,000 customers across its network had been affected with power restored to 45,000 so far.

The energy firm said it had been connecting generators where possible to help get supplies to those worst affected.

Customer support vehicles offering hot drinks and charging points had also been sent to the affected areas, it said.

Louise Lowes, director of customer services, said: “Our teams have worked safely and swiftly to restore power to more than 45,000 customers since this morning and we expect all customers affected by Storm Pia to be back on supply tonight.

“We thank our customers for their patience and our teams are focused on getting those customers who are still affected safely back on supply as soon as possible.”

A yellow weather warning for wind was in place for the north-east area until 15:00 GMT.

High winds also caused travel disruption with train services between Newcastle and Edinburgh hit by delays and cancellations.

The tower of a former church in Middlesbrough was left in danger of collapsing because of the conditions.