Storm Barra: Cumbrian community cut off by severe weather fear history will repeat itself

People in one part of Cumbria fear that recent history is about to repeat itself. They have been talking to our correspondent Amy Welch.

Residents whose lives were turned upside down by Storm Arwen fear the same could happen again with another storm on the way.

The Met Office is warning that the North West will be hit on Tuesday (7 December) by the second serious storm in two weeks - Storm Barra.

Frank Saunders, a Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office, said strong winds arriving across the west through Tuesday morning "will spread inland and reach eastern areas through the afternoon and early evening".

Electricity North West say they have reconnected power to almost 120,000 properties in the region as a result of damage to 900 parts of the network caused by falling trees and other debris.

But residents in a rural Cumbrian community, who were cut off by Storm Arwen just under two weeks ago, fear history could repeat itself and are preparing for the worst.

Cheryl and her children had to camp in the lounge for warmth and cook on the barbecue outside, before they were forced to abandon their home for a hotel.

She told ITV Granada Reports: "We contacted the emergency line but I couldn't get hold of someone for three days.

"There was a cable lying on the ground right up to the house. It was quite frightening.

With many cumbrian villages still without permanent power, the prospect of Storm Barra is a serious worry.

Two miles down the road from Cheryl, the heatings back on at resident Lucy Nemis' house, but the electricity keeps cutting out.

She is still using her camping stove to cook and make cups of tea. She said: "It was chaos on the Friday night.

"All of a sudden things in our house started popping and banging, lugs exploding and the kids were screaming."

At least ten houses and the school in the village of Witherslack are relying on a generator for power but it's by no means reliable.

On Sunday, it cut out for thirteen hours and people who live here been told weeks before electricity restored.

Paul Bircham, from Electricity North West, said: "We do have a number of customers who are on a temporary mobile generators to restore their power.

"We're going through a programme of rebuilding the network and removing the generators.

"We hope to have all the individual generators connected to single properties removed in the next couple of days."

Councillor Fiona hanlon helped coordinate the community response but says many people feel forgotten.

She said: "These places are along long lanes and tracks and we as a community have had difficulty reaching the people that are in trouble.

"The peak issue here was the fact that phone lines are down - no phone, no internet, no landlines. How can they contact ENW if they've got no communications?"

Allithwaite and Cartmel Parish Council are now fundraising for extra generators and led lanterns.

But with snow and wind forecast overnight, those supplies will come too late for those whose lights have only just come back on.

Find more information about Storm Barra here.