Almost 60 homes in Eldwick were left without power yesterday after heavy rain caused an electrical explosion.

A crew from Bingley fire station was called to Eldwick Lane shortly after 2am after reports that residents had heard an explosion, followed by a loss of power.

Firefighters found that lids covering the access to underground power cables had blown off, and smoke was rising from the ground.

They made the scene safe until Northern Power Grid engineers arrived to work on restoring power to the affected houses.

It is thought that rainwater coming into contact with power cables had caused the incident.

A spokesman for Northern Power Grid said: “One of the difficulties was moving cars from the road, since most people were asleep at the time.”