Parts of the county have been hit with heavy thunderstorms following the high temperatures on Tuesday with dozens of homes losing power.

Western parts of the county such as King's Lynn and Swaffham were worst affected by the storms which have been slowly spreading eastwards.

The showers developed in response to the earlier heat with Marham and Houghton Hall recording temperatures of 28.4C and 27.3C respectively on Tuesday. Norwich also reached highs of 25C.

Fred Best, meteorologist for Norwich-based Weatherquest, said the thunderstorms should ease off by 8pm with parts of north and east Norfolk likely to stay dry.

Mr Best said: "There is still a risk of some thunder but it should ease over the next couple of hours and stay dry into next morning.

"Marham has seen 26ml of rain in the last hour but it is plausible other places may have seen more than that. There's been some heavy rainfall."

AA Roadwatch reported heavy rain on Norfolk routes with driving conditions made difficult by the treacherous conditions.

The roads reported were the A134 between Thetford and Lynford and the A47 at Swaffham.

Bloomberg reporter Jess Shankleman, who was driving in the storm, tweeted: "Just driving back from a sunny day at the beach and we got caught in this whipping thunderstorm.

"Hail the size of broad beans. lightning and thunder. Just came out of nowhere. Even the truck drivers are pulling over #Norfolk."

The storms have caused dozens of homes to lose power in the west of the county.

UK Power Networks said 77 customers from seven different postcodes were affected in Swaffham, Castle Acre, Litcham and Great Massingham with power expected to be returned between 7.30pm and 8.30pm.

A spokesperson said: "We were investigating a high voltage overhead electricity line fault which caused a power cut in the local area."

Around three households have also been affected by a separate power cut in the Brandon area after a fault occurred on a piece of electrical equipment which controls the power to homes.