Plea to check on the vulnerable as storm power cuts continue to impact Cornwall
Western Power says teams will be working through the night again, to get supplies restored
Last updated 20th Feb 2022
People are being urged to check on and look out for vulnerable neighbours, relatives and friends as storm-related power cuts continue to impact Cornwall.
Thousands were left without power when Storm Eunice battered the Duchy on Friday and now Storm Franklin has arrived.
A yellow weather warning for strong winds and gusts of up to 75mph is in force until 1pm on Monday, along with flood alerts for the whole of the north coast.
There are fears the fresh gales could hamper the clean-up operation from Storm Eunice.
Cornwall Council says at one point on Sunday morning, over 8,000 people still had no power.
Fire stations from Mullion to Bude and Falmouth to Saltash were opened to support people with no supply, offering hot drinks, the use of microwaves and to charge mobile phones.
The council also issued an urgent call for those without power to keep safe while keeping warm, by wrapping up with blankets and extra layers and not putting themselves at risk by using unsafe forms of heat.
Western Power Distribution brought a fleet of generators into Cornwall overnight, with extra teams to install them and work on getting power supplies returned.
In its latest update, WPD said: "Despite now facing another storm – named by the Met Office as Storm Franklin - our engineers are still working hard to restore electricity to customers who lost power in Storm Eunice.
"Conditions in parts of our region are dreadful, with high winds and heavy rain, but our teams are battling on.
"We have now restored 98% of the customers affected by Storm Eunice and hundreds of field staff are working hard to restore the remaining 14,699 in our South West region who were directly affected by the storm.
"We know these customers are dealing with extremely difficult situations without power and we are working hard to fix every last incident and keep people informed.
We expect to restore customers by Monday night, but we are doing all we can to get the lights on earlier for many customers wherever possible, depending on the specific repair needs at each remaining location.
"As we have done since Friday, we will again be working throughout the night to make further restorations".
Western Power's Operations Director, Graham Halladay, said: “This has been the worst storm we have ever experienced in our South West region and I am grateful for the incredible resilience our customers are showing.
"We are doing our utmost to get the network fixed as soon as possible.
"We have had hundreds of faults, many of them affecting a small number of customers.
“As well as our teams out in the field and in our Control Rooms and Contact Centres, we also have teams working behind the scenes to get equipment to the right places and organising welfare support for our most vulnerable customers.
"They too have been working long hours because no one at Western Power Distribution likes the thought of our customers being left without power.
“Unfortunately, the sheer devastation Storm Eunice left has made accessing and repairing faults extremely challenging, which is why it is taking longer than we would like to carry out repairs.
"We are sorry and we are doing our level best to get every single customer’s lights back on".
How can I access support if I have no power?
The Western Power website has received 1.8 million visits in two days - the equivalent of two months' worth of activity.
On a normal weekend, they would expect around 21,500 hits and even Storm Arwen only saw 537,000 hits.
To report a power cut, ring Western Power Distribution on 105 or check the affected areas and information on when supplies will be restored on its power cuts map.
Those needing support can ring Cornwall Council’s emergency number until 9pm on Sunday and on Monday on 01872 323752.
Anyone with urgent but not life-threatening health concerns should ring 111 and if you are in danger, call 999.