A summer storm uprooted trees, disrupted transport and left thousands of homes without electricity.

High winds and driving rain tore through Sussex yesterday as the unseasonal deep depression arriving from Spain produced winds of up to 50mph.

More than 6,000 homes were plunged into darkness as trees crashed on to power lines.

Dozens of roads were blocked by debris in Balcombe, Worthing, Lancing, Horsham and Ardingly.

Lightning struck house roofs in Hastings and Bexhill.

Two people had to be pulled to safety after their dinghy capsized near Chichester Harbour and Wakehurst Place was closed after strong winds tore branches off trees.

Sussex Police had 82 reported incidents but no serious injuries.

In Mid Sussex, EDF Energy drafted in dozens of extra engineers and call centre staff in a bid to restore electricity supplies to 6,700 homes.

EDF spokeswoman Claire Byrd said: "The bad weather really started to cause problems from about 11am.

"We put our emergency plan into operation and did our best to minimise disruption.

"Unfortunately, debris had been blown on to the power lines and trees felled"

"Trees are heavier at this time of year than in winter and more susceptible to branches being blown down."

Among the worst-hit places were Haywards Heath, Warninglid, Cowfold, Robertsbridge, Heathfield, Pound Hill, Forest Row and Crawley Down.

People were urged to stay away from fallen power lines which could still be live.

Driving rain and high winds also caused havoc further east and in Hastings lightning blew a hole in the roof of a house in Dorset Road at 2.45pm.

A bank in Devonshire Road, Bexhill, and two other houses were also hit by lightning.

Gardens in Marine Drive, Worthing, were under 10in of water and sandbags were provided by West Sussex County Council to protect homes. The road was closed by police.

Wakehurst Place, near Ardingly, was shut after the wind tore branches down.

Meanwhile, two people were rescued after using a mobile phone to call for help after their 14ft dinghy capsized in strong winds near Chichester Harbour.

The crew of the Wanderer dialled 999 while sitting on the hull of the overturned boat and Chichester's in-shore lifeboat was launched.

Forecasters were predicting rough seas and poor visibility today.

Temperatures were expected to fall as low as 13C, well below the early-July average, and British Gas put its winter emergency plans into operation as it prepared for a surge in demand with people switching on heating.

Weather experts at the Met Office reported 9.6mm of rain fell in Haywards Heath in just two hours. At Shoreham 8.8mm of rain was recorded from 3pm to 5pm.

Winds of 45mph battered seafronts across Sussex.

John Millard, a Met Office forecaster, said: "This is unusual for July and is caused by a fairly deep area of low pressure pushing up from Spain."