A widespread power outage affecting hundreds of homes across the East End and the island’s eastern middle parishes struck shortly before 10pm last night.

An unknown number of customers in Pembroke were also affected, with Belco’s site listing more than 5,660 hit as of 11pm.

By 11.20pm, only part of Hamilton Parish appeared to be affected.

Belco posted on social media that it was aware of the cut and had dispatched crews to “restore power as quickly and safely as possible”.

A spokesman confirmed that electricity went down near 10pm, with updates pending.

Affected homes were advised to unplug sensitive equipment and electronics. Anyone outdoors was urged to use “extreme caution when driving, walking or riding near our working crews”.

The statement did not elaborate on the cause of the outage, which appeared to encompass the East End along with Hamilton Parish, Smith’s, pockets of Devonshire and an area of Pembroke near Spanish Point, as well as part of the City of Hamilton.