Lights flickering across Cornwall and Devon explained

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Thousands of people across Devon and Cornwall have been left scratching their heads after their lights flickered. Householders and business owners have posted and commented on social media about the momentary power cuts.

They came as hundreds of properties across both counties have been left without power due to mass cuts brought on by Storms Eowyn and Herminia. Read that story and see updates in our live blog here.

Now National Grid has explained the cause of the phenomenon. On X, formerly Twitter, it apologised to customers in areas of Plymouth. Asked what caused it, the response was: "Apologies for the disruption. Our high voltage network in the area tripped but was able to automatically reset. It is likely to be a tree on the overhead high voltage lines."

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Trees have fallen all over the two counties, which is probably one cause of the same flickering elsewhere. There can also be other weather-related reasons for these instances of the high voltage network being tripped or suffering faults, when conditions affect the lines.