Vital assistance has been given to people in County Durham while their homes remain without power due to Storm Dudley.
Stormy weather arrived in the North East on Wednesday evening, bringing with it gale force gusts of over 80mph in some areas.
And with the winds came widespread damage, disruption and power cuts, similar to the effects of the previous storms to hit the region, including Arwen and Malik.
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Coxhoe, Parkhill, and Tursdale in County Durham were among the areas hit hardest by Storm Dudley, leaving residents without power but Durham County Council was able to provide crucial assistance to those who needed it most.
Coxhoe Village Hall was opened for anyone who needed somewhere safe and warm to stay, with a food truck from the Northern Powergrid delivering essentials to residents who were left short of hot meals.
An amber warning had been issued by the Met Office, after winds of up to 80mph pulled trees and power cables down.
A yellow weather warning for wind remains in place for Thursday and Friday as Storm Eunice rolls in bringing more disruption.
And Northern Powergrid have been working continually to reconnect the power to homes.
With some 19,000 customers now having power restored, the electrical distribution company are now working to address the remaining 1,200 who remain without energy.
Director of Field Operations for Northern Powergrid, Andy Bilclough, said: “Our teams made really good progress through the night, our focus is now to restore supplies to the remaining final 1,200 customers who are still without power.
"Other than the inevitable few surprises that always get uncovered at the end of a storm restoration, we have the work planned out for all of our resources.
"We are shooting to get it all done today – we don’t want any of our customers to be off supply for a minute longer than they have to be.”
According to the Northern Powergrid's official website, there is a possibility that a small number of repairs will run into Friday.
Councillor for Coxhoe Maura McKeon, has in turn demanded that more must be done in preparation for further storms which may come in the near future, in a bid to make sure that widespread disruptions don't happen again.
She said: "The new-build estates have functioned better than the older ones, particularly in Parkhill - and I feel that we need a national discussion about the resilience of our ageing utilities and infrastructure, given the number of severe storms we now seem to have.
"I am also worried about broadband connectivity. Long after the power has been restored people can have problems accessing broadband, which impacts work, education and so many parts of our lives."
Coun McKeon explained that following Storm Arwen in November, homes in Coxhoe were left without broadband for up to a week after the storm.
She added: "I think we need reviews nationally and locally, of all the failures and struggles during and after the storms.
"Why are some properties in a community more affected than others? Is there a specific kind of infrastructure that fails more than others? How do we improve the infrastructure? What can we replace it with?
"These storms aren't going away. We're living through a climate crisis, we need to face extreme weather head-on.
"I am also deeply disturbed by efforts of some Tory MPs to abandon the Net-Zero target. I don't want our communities to become more collateral for someone else's ideology.
"Durham is clearly being affected by climate change."
