Thunder and lightning storms struck Bradford this morning with torrents of rain running through many of the district's streets, making rush-hour hazardous for commuters.

There is flooding on the A58 Whitehall Road, in the Wyke area, between Rookes Lane and A641 Huddersfield Road at Hellfire Crossroads.

The road is flooded under the railway viaduct and callers are reporting several vehicles broken down in the flooding and a travel time of an hour.

Train journeys to and from Bradford Interchange may be delayed by up to 60 minutes because of lightning having damaged signalling equipment.

And motorists on the M62 were also being warned of dangerous driving conditions as the rain lashed the motorway and the A644 Wakefield Road in Brighouse was struggling as the storm hampered emergency repairs being carried out on a burst water main.

The closure of that route, which is the main road from Huddersfield town centre to junction 25 of the M62, has increased the volume of traffic in Brighouse town centre, with commuters travelling from Huddersfield to Bradford having difficulty getting onto the motorway.

Meanwhile, lightning strikes hit some satellites affecting power in the city for a few minutes.

Northern Rail is reporting delays of up to 30 minutes on its services between Leeds and Skipton, between Leeds and Ilkley and between Leeds and Bradford Forster Square because of a person hit by a train between Leeds and Shipley. All lines are open now but there is not known when a normal service will resume.

Across the country, lightning strikes and flooding have caused havoc on mainline rail services, with rush-hour passengers in Scotland, the North of England, Yorkshire, the West Midlands, East Anglia and southern England all affected by the stormy weather.

The worst of the lightning incidents was in the Manchester area, where signals were damaged by a strike. This meant trains were unable to move in or out of Manchester Piccadilly station, with journey times being extended by up to 90 minutes.

A limited amount of replacement road transport was running between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport.

Lightning affecting signals also meant that no trains were able to run between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Edinburgh, while a similar problem in the West Midlands led to delays between Coventry/Birmingham International and Birmingham New Street.

Lightning also damaged signalling equipment between Manea and March in Cambridgeshire, which meant delays for passengers travelling between Ely and Peterborough, and signalling gear near Beverley on Humberside, causing delays between Hull and Beverley.

In Kent, fallen electricity cables at Penshurst meant trains were unable to run between Redhill in Surrey and Tonbridge in Kent, with buses replacing trains.

Flooding caused disruption near Gillingham in Kent, with delays and cancellations to services between Sheerness-on-Sea and Sittingbourne.

The flooding also led to delays to trains between Faversham and St Pancras International station in London and to services between Strood and Tonbridge.