Thousands of homes still without power after Storm Arwen leaves network 'decimated'

Many properties across South Cumbria and North Lancashire are still without power after Storm Arwen hit the region on Friday night.

Electricity North West says their engineers ''worked tirelessly'' to fix cables to more than 90,000 properties after the network was 'decimated'.

Treacherous conditions including strong winds and heavy snow saw more than 900 separate incidents of damage.

The company has drafted in additional resources from the south of England to help repair the damage to overhead power lines, following what has been described as "one of the worst wind storms the North West has seen in years".

It says its customer contact centre has also handled more than 60,000 calls and has made 6,000 outbound calls to reach out to customers on the Priority Services Register.

Stephanie Trubshaw, Electricity North West’s Incident Manager and Customer Director, said: “Our teams have worked tirelessly across the region restoring power to our customers.

“Storm Arwen is one of the worst wind storms the North West has seen in years. The damage has been devastating not only to the power network, but many roads have also been blocked because of fallen debris and snow.

“We’ve drafted in even more resources today and we’re working to restore power to all of our customers as quickly and as safely as possible.”

As well as additional resources who will help restore power, Electricity North West is also working with several of its partners including British Red Cross, various local resilience forums in Cumbria and Kendal Emergency.

Stephanie Trubshaw added: “It has been an extremely difficult time for our customers and I want to thank them for their patience, it isn’t easy and we’re doing all we can to prioritise the critical issues.

“Our customer contact centre has handled more than 33,000 calls and we’re proactively contacting our Priority Services Register throughout the day.

“I also ask our customers to utilise our social media channels to report any incidents stating the location and postcode.

“We’re also continuing to work with closely with our partners in the emergency services and local authorities as we manage this major incident while we focus on restoring power.”

Customers without power are encouraged to check www.enwl.co.uk and Electricity North West’s social media channels for updates.