Households in England urged to charge phones and batteries before Friday

Households in England are being urged to charge up mobile phones and spare batteries before Friday lunchtime.

That’s because parts of the UK are set for thunder and possibly lightning storms which could in some cases see power cuts and disruption.

Currently, forecasters are telling households in most of the south of England, south of Wales, London and the south west and south east of England that thunderstorms will start on Friday at lunchtime and more storms could follow on Saturday, with parts of the north west England also affected.

The Met Office has also issued two separate yellow weather warnings for thunderstorms on Friday and Saturday.

The BBC said in its forecast: “Probably some damage to a few buildings and structures from lightning strikes. Some short term loss of power and other services is likely. Delays to train services are possible. Driving conditions may be affected by spray, standing water and/or hail, leading to longer journey times by car and bus.”

Advice commonly issued to households around stormy weather which could lead to power cuts involves charging your phone and a spare battery pack.

This is because if power cuts do happen in your area caused by the thunderstorm, you won’t be able to charge your phone, which you may need if there’s an emergency such as flooding or damage to your house from a falling tree or a fire.

There is also a power cut number to call - 105. If you do suffer a power cut you can call the National Grid on 105 from your mobile to alert them, which is especially useful as often landlines will stop working during a power cut and can be unsafe during thunder and lightning.

A battery pack is also useful as you won’t need to worry about running out of that phone charge if the power is out for an extended period of time.

Finally, it’s also advisable to have a battery powered or wind up torch handy, again in case of a power cut. Not only does this save you from using precious phone charge to light up your phone’s torch - which runs down the battery quite quickly - but many torches can also convert to a makeshift lamp, so you don’t need to keep holding it to see in the dark.