Engineers work through the night to restore Cumbria's power
It's been a week since Storm Arwen caused damage to the county's power network
Last updated 6th Dec 2021
Engineers from Electricity North West have been working through the night to restore power to the remaining homes in Cumbria who have now been a week without power.
Last night, there were just 1,800 properties still without electricity after Storm Arwen caused the worst damage engineers have ever seen.
Paul Bircham, Electricity North West’s Regulation and Communications Director, said: “Our teams have been working before first light and into the night every day since Storm Arwen hit our region.
“We have restored power to over 115,000 properties and we are now focusing our efforts on the remaining 1,800 customers without electricity, predominantly in Cumbria. The remaining repair work is extremely complex due to the severity of the damage, but we are confident that no customers affected by Storm Arwen will be without power past the weekend.”
Electricity North West is still aiming to restore customers by Friday (3 December). The company is urging any customer whose postcode is not listed alongside a fault on its website to call 105 to report it as soon as possible.
Paul added: “We are deploying generators to complex faults that cannot be immediately fixed to ensure customers are back on supply as quickly as possible.
“Some of the faults we are dealing with are problematic, and some customers may see their electricity supply turning off and on as we work towards permanent restoration.”
The company has set up respite centres and food vans in affected areas for customers still without electricity. It is also providing free overnight accommodation at the YMCA in LA12 8BD.
See food van locations and other key information, including how eligible customers can claim compensation payments at www.enwl.co.uk/StormArwen.
Well Labour’s new Shadow Environment Secretary Jim McMahon’s been visiting the North East, where there's still thousands of homes without power.
More than 100 members of the army are arriving in County Durham this morning and will be conducting welfare visits and offering support and reassurance to the thousands of residents still without power.
McMahon has told us that the situation faced by many in the North for the past week has, once again, highlighted the North-South divide:
"We have no doubt that if this was a crisis affecting London and the South East, that the Government would've called a COBRA meeting to get all the ministers around the table for a single response from the whole of government.
"That hasn't happened. it's almost been left to the grid alone to fix a problem that is a national emergency.
"We're not talking about one or two neighbourhoods. We're talking a week-long effort that means that 20,000 people haven't the electricity that they need.
"So after a week, it's right that people say to the Government you promised to fix this and it's now time to deliver on that promise.
"There's a great sense in the north that people have been ignored. It's almost out of sight out of mind.
"It was very clear that people are really frustrated and people feel alone."