Around 30 homes are still without power, 48 hours after a fault in a substation resulted in a power surge.

The incident, at 1.30pm on Tuesday, initially affected properties in Churchill Avenue, Wayfield Road, Montgomery Avenue and Cunningham Crescent, Chatham, with residents reporting smoke coming from sockets and plug-in air fresheners shooting out of the walls.

The surge caused a blaze in one property in Wayfield Road, which was put out by firefighters wearing breathing apparatus.

It prompted a big response from the police and fire service, and SGN gas engineers were called in case they were needed.

Wayfield Road was closed to traffic to enable the emergency services to work unhindered.

The power cut originally impacted 412 customers.

A spokesman for UK Power Networks said today: “Engineers have now safely restored power to all but around 30 properties in the Wayfield Road area of Chatham.

“We understand how difficult this has been for our customers, we apologise for the disruption whilst we’ve worked round the clock to reconnect supplies.

“Our teams will remain on site to support customers and ensure that any damaged electrical equipment as a result of this fault is repaired or replaced.

“Goodwill payments will be proactively made to all eligible customers in addition to any repairs or replacements that are required.

“There are a small number of properties where we are still trying to arrange access and we will ensure we restore their supplies once contact can be made.”