Power restored following Storm Deirdre

Engineers from Electricity North West have restored power to almost all customers affected by Storm Deirdre, with just a handful remaining who should be back on this evening.

High winds and freezing rain affected power supplies across Cumbria and Lancashire on Saturday.

Teams worked through the night and restored power to thousands of properties, across a number of large faults on the network where trees and debris had brought down overhead power lines over a widespread area.

The power network operator had 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, Paul Dutton, said: “Thanks to the commitment of our teams of overhead linespeople, tree cutters, engineers and a whole host of other teams supporting the response, I’m pleased to say almost all properties affected by Storm Deirdre are now back on. 

“Weather events like this where we have high winds affecting a wide area mean that we can have a large number of different locations to respond to, with each job taking significant time to remove trees, and repair and rebuild overhead lines. Thanks to customers for their patience, and again for our teams for pulling together to respond in tough conditions.”

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.