MOUNTAINOUS seas battered the North Sea coastline in County Durham today (Tuesday, May 31), with explosive waves smashing against the harbour wall of Seaham.

The waves were swept in by a storm coming from Europe, bringing torrential rain and thunderstorms across parts the country.

A Meteo Group forecaster said: “It’s quite an odd combination of weather systems, because just over the Faroe Islands there is a big high pressure that is creating a North-Easterly flow across the UK

“On top of this you have a low pressure system around Low Countries of Europe and because the high pressure is quite strong it’s bringing in the low pressure.

"What that means is that between this high and low the North-Easterly winds are picking up, so you are getting very strong winds off the sea - up to 40mph. It is quite cold as well.

"A huge build-up cloud is coming in with bands of rain in."