Lightning strikes power plant in the north

A power plant in the north was struck by lightning on Thursday morning, leaving segments of the population without electricity.

According to social media in the north, a Turkish Cypriot power station near Famagusta was rendered out of order at 6:30am, when a lighting strike hit the plant and completely destroyed the transformer.

Fire fighters were called to the scene to extinguish the flames but it was unclear when power would be restored to all residents.

Local authorities took to social media to respond to comments from people in the affected areas, who were asking for updates and calling on officials to fix the problem quickly.

Over two dozen villages have been affected according to media reports, with officials reminding local residents to log in into their company accounts to check the maintenance status in their area.

Cyprus went into a storm watch on Thursday, with authorities in the south issuing a yellow warning all day due to intense rainfall and possible thunderstorms.