Storm Arwen - clean up job underway
Thousands are still without power across the North East
Last updated 29th Nov 2021
A memorable weekend for all the wrong reasons as Storm Arwen tore through the North East.
Winds up to 100 miles an hour battered us, ripping up trees, tearing down fences, damaging buildings and blowing some roofs clean off.
There's still major issues including on the rail network.
And on some roads.
Over 240,000 thousand people lost power but Northern Powergrid say they're doing their best to get everyone back on. As of 5am today (Monday 29th Nov) their power outages map looked like this:
Teams at Northern Powergrid, the company responsible for the electricity distribution network across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire, are set to work into the night as it continues to restore power to customers still affected as a result of Storm Arwen.
The network operator has now restored power to around 208,000 of the 240,000 customers affected and is working to restore thousands more tonight.
The scale of damage in some locations is so extensive that in some cases, large sections of overhead lines will need to be rebuilt in order to restore supplies. Where it can, Northern Powergrid is deploying temporary fixes that get customers back on supply whilst its teams coordinate the necessary permanent repairs to get the region’s power network back to full strength.
Despite the mammoth efforts of its teams, there will still be many customers without power for another night. Throughout the day its customer service teams have been calling people who have been without power for a long time so customers could make informed choices about organising alternative arrangements, particularly with the current wintery conditions.
Rod Gardner, Northern Powergrid’s Major Incident Manager, said: “Intelligence from our helicopter inspections has illustrated the scale of impact on our network. The impact from Storm Arwen has been one of the worst we’ve experienced in the last 20 years.
“Despite this we have restored more than 200,000 customers supplies and our dedicated teams will not stop until all customers are restored, and our network is returned to full strength.
“We are extremely grateful for the support we have received from other UK network companies, who have provided resource as part of the industry’s mutual support arrangements, which exist for extreme events like this.
“Our frontline teams and contractors will work in partnership with engineers from other parts of the UK, we have also organised additional customer service support to bolster our contact centre to help us keep customers updated.
“We continue to work closely with the region’s gas, water and rail network companies to coordinate with their teams and prioritise our work to help minimise the broader impact on the region.”
Northern Powergrid’s customer support vehicles have been out and about in communities, supporting customers with access to hot water, drinks, mobile phone charging and winter warmer packs. The network operator is continuing to work with the British Red Cross and multi-agency partners, as part of Local Resilience Forums, to support the most vulnerable members in the worst affected communities.
Northern Powergrid is reinforcing the importance that local people who spot any damaged cables or equipment must not approach the area as equipment may still be live and pose a risk of electrocution. Customers must contact the company immediately by calling 105.
Tyne and Wear Metro service
Metro trains are now running between St James and South Shields in both directions (the full yellow line), thanks to the efforts of infrastructure teams who've worked around the clock.
Significant damage to Metro’s infrastructure was caused by Storm Arwen on Friday night into Saturday morning. Issues across the network included trees and branches caught in overhead lines, and excessive debris on the tracks.
There remains a number of issues in those areas, in particular at Regent Centre and South Hylton, and Nexus teams continue to work to clear the lines and tracks to allow trains to travel.
Customers are advised to follow updates on Twitter (@My_Metro)