POWER cuts have hit thousands of homes after stormy weather moved in to topple scores of trees and power lines in Kent.

More than 13,000 customers across the county have been affected. About 2,500 of those were still without electricity this morning. And there may be more bad weather in store later today.

The bad weather began to hit the South East at around 11am yesterday. Electricity supplier EDF Energy struggled to identify all low voltage faults causing power cuts in small pockets.

Parts of Hawkhurst, Birling, West Malling, Snodland and the Ward homes development off Panteny Lane, Bapchild, near Sittingbourne, were among the areas known to have been hit.

The power cut in Snodland was caused by a tree falling onto a power line, in Brook Lane, at about 11.15am.

Catherine Preston, of Hollow Lane, Snodland, near Rochester, said that electricity company EDF Energy had been unable to give her any information when she called their help line.

She said: "I asked the man how many homes had been affected and he said he didn't know. I asked how many engineers they had and he said he didn't know. It is poor. I worked for British Gas for several years and we used to know these things."

A spokeswoman for EDF Energy said: "Most of those still without power have been affected by localised faults on our low voltage network, each affecting small numbers of customers.

"We do realise the inconvenience this will be causing them and would like to assure them we are doing everything possible to restore their power as quickly as possible. We are aware that a number of overhead power lines have been brought down and would urge people to stay away from these as some may still be live."

The high winds forced Leeds Castle, near Maidstone, to close. A spokeswoman there said that managers decided to shut down to protect visitors after two trees were felled in the castle's grounds.

Railway passengers suffered delays on journeys throughout yesterday afternoon and evening as fallen trees and branches delayed trains across the network. At Aylesford, a train collided with a fallen tree at about 1pm.

Trains were cancelled on the Paddock Wood to Strood line for the following three hours.

Trains on the Maidstone East and West Malling line were delayed for up to an hour from 3.30pm into the night because of the knock-on effects of fallen trees in the Bromley area.

House of Fraser director Peter Horrix missed the official handover of the chain's new Maidstone store on the Fremlin Walk site because of the delays out of London.

A spokeswoman for South Eastern Trains apologised for the widespread disruption. She said: "Network Rail did deploy special teams with tree cutting equipment to be at the ready but unfortunately it always takes time because the lines are electric, so in order to remove the trees and debris safely you have to turn off the traction current."

A tree narrowly missed a car as it crashed to the ground on Boxley Hill, near Maidstone, at about 10.30pm last night. The roof of a bin storage area in George Street, off Woodberry Drive, Sittingbourne, was blown off.

Bernard Bibby, of Canterbury Road, said: "It landed on the road and pavement. It's lucky it did not hit anybody."

Forecasters predict more downpours and strong winds today.

KM-fm spoke to John Millard at The Met Office to get a clearer picture of what is on the cards for the region...