'Significant progress' being made to restore power to snow-hit homes in Cumbria

Electricity North West has announced "significant progress" is being made to restore power to homes in Cumbria.

Engineers have been carrying out mass repair work on Cumbria's power network after miles of overhead lines were damaged due to heavy snow.

Overnight more than 13,000 homes have now been reconnected following the weather.

Stephanie Trubshaw, Electricity North West’s customer director, said: “Our teams are continuing to battle difficult conditions and are facing a significant engineering challenge to carry out mass repair work.

"At the same time we’re making sure we’re doing everything we can to contact those still affected to provide support.

“We’ve made good progress overnight restoring power to a further 700 properties and teams left our local depots this morning and we’ve got all outstanding incidents resourced.

“Whilst the main roads have cleared, more rural areas are still problematic with some roads still impassable.

"We’ll be working around the clock and doing everything we can to get power back to the remaining 800 customers today.”

Electricity North West says although major roads in the county are starting to clear, many side streets and rural roads remain impassable.

More than 35 separate damages have been reported on the network with several consecutive spans of overhead line brought down which all need repairing before power can be fully restored.

Stephanie Trubshaw added: "We’re putting our customers at the centre of our response.

“We know this has been an extremely difficult period and we’re focusing our efforts on making contact with everyone affected to ensure they are safe, while our teams on the ground continue repairs.

“Customers can also speak directly with our contact centre by calling 105 if they need any additional support.”

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know...