THIS is the moment when an electricity cable explodes in a Southampton street.

An explosion rocked a Southampton street when an overhead electricity cable attached to a pole blew up in the early hours of today.

The drama unfolded in Toogoods Way, Maybush, at 2.30am when the pole began to catch fire leading to the the cable eventaully disintegrating and detaching from the pole.

People living in 10 households were told to keep indoors after the 240v cable began sparking and creating an electricity arc.

The snapped cable dropped to the ground in the Maybush Road and led to a small fire in a nearby garden as sparks flew from the cable.

Many neighbours said it was like a loud firework going off.

Soon after crews from Redbridge fire station arrived when it fell to the ground where it exploded and set fire to a garden.

No one was hurt, but the fire caused damage to the garden.

Crews from Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) are on the scene today fixing the structure.

Station watch manager Chris Norgate said: “It was sparking dangerously.

“It was a very impressive firework display before it exploded and landed on the road.

“It is lucky no one was injured and there were no cars underneath.”

Residents were told to stay indoors by fire crews while engineers raced to switch off the supply to the live cable.

A spokesman for SSE said that households in the area should have power back by about 2pm this afternoon.

It is not yet known what led to the initial fire.

They added: “Engineers have been working through the night to remove the damaged part of the cable and put new cabling in."

Residents described how they woke in the middle of the night to the sound a "massive explosion" when an overhead electricity cable caught fire.

Lee Easterbrook who lives opposite where the pole is called Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service.

He said: "it was a massive bang. At first we thought it was fireworks in the distance. It wasn't until we wiped our eyes and saw the fire at the top of the pole.

"It lit up the whole bedroom. The cable came down, it was like pure electricity coming out of it."

Christine Hartley could see the blaze and "white light" through the skylight outside her bedroom.

Christine said: "It looked like an electric storm. To me it wasn't fireworks it was intermittent flashing. It was a bit of drama."

Neighbours were told to stay indoors and a cordon was put up while engineers raced to shut off the power.

Another resident Barry Pitcher said: "The fire brigade came and said was a dangerous situation, stay indoors, don't come out."

Engineers from Scottish and Southern Electric have been working throughout the night and day to restore power to the ten homes affected.

The cause of the initial fire is not yet known.

“There’s currently no investigation going on as to what happened. Our priority is to get customers power back.

“The engineers are working to restore the cable as quickly as possible.”