THUNDERSTORMS caused chaos across Essex.

Fire crews were called to house fires in Basildon and Canvey after lightning strikes.

A flat above a shop in Wickford was also damaged.

Fire crews were called to St Mary's School in Boston Avenue, Southend, after sewage began seeping from a manhole cover after heavy downpours

It was reporterd underground cables in the town had caught light when a stretch of pavement was hit.

The roof of Somerfield supermarket in the Baytree Centre, Brentwood, caught fire shortly after 1.30pm. Two crews dealt with it within half an hour.

Across the country, train services and flight departures were affected as the sunshine was replaced by torrential rain. The storms followed the hottest day of the year on Monday.

Lightning struck an air traffic control tower at Gatwick airport in West Sussex, causing departures to be temporarily suspended. No structural damage was caused by the incident, which affected ground-based systems at the airport, one of the busiest in the UK.

Train services were also hit, with lightning strikes affecting signals.

Some of the heaviest rainfall was seen in south-east England, with 9mm of rain falling in just one hour in Cavendish, Suffolk.

A flood alert was in place for the Thames region and the Environment Agency has warned people in the area to be prepared. According to MeteoGroup, the weather division of the P

ress Association, temperatures in London and south-east England are forecast to drop to 20C later this week and 19C elsewhere in the UK.

* SPECIAL REPORT AND PICTURES IN WEDNESDAY'S ECHO