Electricity North West engineers are battling the elements and have restored power to 2,550 properties affected by Storm Ali.
6,650 properties are currently without power in the North West across 25 separate faults in Cumbria including Wigton, Aspatria and Penrith.
The power network operator has been on alert since the Met Office issued the weather warning, drafting in additional engineers and contact centre agents on standby as Storm Ali became the first named storm of the season.
There is currently an amber weather warning for wind from the Met Office affecting the very north of Cumbria, and yellow for the rest of Cumbria and parts of Lancashire, with the Met Office also warning of power cuts.
Electricity North West incident manager, Sam Loukes, said: “High winds can cause flying debris and falling trees to damage overhead lines, causing power cuts. We do have a rolling programme of cutting back the closest trees to lines, but unfortunately it’s not possible to prevent all power cuts.
“We have teams of engineers working to fix a number of power cuts that have occurred so far today. We’ll work to get people back on as soon as possible as long as it’s safe for our teams to climb our poles to rebuild lines where necessary.”
Customers should visit www.enwl.co.uk/powercuts for more information, or follow Electricity North West on Facebook or Twitter. Customers can also call Electricity North West on 105 to report power cuts.
If customers see any lines down, or branches or debris hanging from lines, Electricity North West is urging them to stay away and call them as soon as possible on 105.
Electricity North West offers extra support to customers through its Priority Services Register. Extra support is available to customers if they require it. Customers can register online by visiting www.enwl.co.uk/priority or calling Electricity North West on 105.
For advice on how to be prepared and stay safe please visit www.enwl.co.uk/power-cuts/dealing-with-power-cuts.
