MORE than 450 homes in Itchen Abbas have been hit by a powercut.

The powercut which has affected 461 customers in the area near Winchester, happened after a wire came down near Itchen Abbas.

To allow engineers to investigate the problem safely, SSE say they cut off the power.

It is not known when the power will be back on.

A spokesperson for SSE, said: "For safety reasons we have had to cut off the power. We would like to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience this has caused.

"We will do everything we can to carry out investigations safely and as quickly as possible.”