Engineers from Electricity North West continue to battle the elements this morning as high winds and freezing rain affected power supplies across Cumbria and Lancashire on Saturday.
Teams worked through the night and restored 9,000 properties, across 28 large faults where trees and debris had brought down a number of overhead power lines. Teams are working again today to restore power to the final 400 properties still affected, while repairing the damage caused to the network.
The power network operator has been on alert since the Met Office issued the weather warning on Friday and Storm Deirdre was named by the Irish Met office on Saturday, drafting in additional engineers and contact centre agents to help respond.
Winds of 76mph were recorded at St Bees Head in Cumbria on Saturday evening and a yellow alert for snow and ice is still in place for Cumbria until 12pm Sunday.
Electricity North West incident manager, Mark Mercer, said: “We’re still all systems go to restore the final few hundred customers without power following high winds and treacherous driving conditions overnight. We have a number of trees that have fallen on overhead powerlines, so our tree teams are on site with overhead lines teams to repair the damage as quickly as possible.
“Freezing rain the east of the region made access to some sites impossible last night, even with the use of 4x4s, but the weather is looking better today and we are making good progress this morning.”
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 you see any lines down, or branches or debris hanging from lines, Electricity North West is urging people 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.
