Met Office urges homes in 75 areas to gather torches and batteries from Friday - full list

The Met Office has urged households across 75 areas of the UK to prepare for the possibility of power cuts as thunderstorms threaten to bring lightning, flash flooding and strong winds from Friday.

A yellow thunderstorm warning comes into force from midnight and lasts until 10am across much of England and Wales, while a separate warning remains in place across large parts of Scotland until midnight on Friday.

Forecasters have warned there is a "slight chance" of power cuts where lightning strikes or severe weather damage electricity infrastructure.

The Met Office advises households to prepare in advance by:

Making sure you have multiple torches and spare batteries.
Keeping your mobile phone fully charged in case you need to make emergency calls.

Keeping fridge and freezer doors closed during any outage, with a blanket placed over them to help retain the cold.

Storing important documents somewhere safe and easy to access.

Checking on elderly neighbours to ensure they are prepared.

Switching off appliances such as irons, ovens, electric fires and fryers, which could become a fire hazard when electricity is restored.