Angry traders - warned that their premises were about to be flooded - stripped their shelves in darkness after a massive power cut hit Stamford Bridge.

Power supplies for 2,800 residents in the Stamford Bridge area was cut at 2.10 pm yesterday because of a major overhead power line fault, said Northern Electric.

Traders had just been warned that the River Derwent was set to burst its banks and Maynews staff spent hours emptying the shops by the light of a torch, only to discover this morning that the work was apparently for nothing as the river had dropped overnight.

Chris Caffrey, manager of Maynews, said: "I appreciate it's difficult to give an accurate warning but the fact that the water went down rather than up and into the shops is annoying to say the least after our efforts yesterday. We could have emptied the shop this morning.

"Even now we don't know whether to bring the cigarettes back in because it could flood later."

Electricity supplies were restored in stages through the afternoon and night, with 1,400 reconnected within an hour and the final ten properties reconnected by 3am today. Northern Electric said the cause of the fault was still being investigated.

People in Welham Road, Norton, were also issued with a flood warning last night but remained flood-free by today.

People in both communities were furious that councillors on the Yorkshire Regional Flood Defence Committee may still decide this Friday not to agree to a levy increase enabling new flood defence schemes to go ahead.

Updated: 10:40 Wednesday, February 07, 2001