Tens of thousands of households have been left without power due to a storm for the second time in a matter of months.
Northern Powergrid have said 78,000 customers have been affected by power cuts caused by Storm Malik since 4am this morning.
As of 4pm, 48,000 customers were still affected by issues, with the majority in Northumberland and County Durham.
Read more: Go here for the very latest breaking news updates from across the North East
Engineers are said to be working to restore power remotely wherever possible, but the storm's strong winds mean it is currently unsafe for teams to climb and repair damage to overhead powerlines.
It comes just two months after thousands of households were left without power for weeks after Storm Arwen in November.
Northern Powergrid have said that while the damage is not at the level seen during Storm Arwen, Storm Malik has been more severe than initially forecast, with wind speeds of up to 75mph recorded.
The company said that as of the early afternoon it was responding to more than 600 concurrent reports of damage, all of which will require repair.
Fortunately power supplies have already been successfully restored to 26,000 homes.
Northern Powergrid director Paul Glendinning said: “Storm Malik is causing disruption to our network and the gale force winds are expected to continue across the weekend.
“Our engineers continue to do everything possible to assess the scale of the damage and prioritise the repairs required. We have all our resources in place and our priority is to deal with emergency situations, support our customers and ensure our people can work safely as soon as the conditions allow.
“Our contact centre is very busy but our teams are answering calls as quickly as possible. We’ve introduced a queue system on our website to help respond to customer demand and we will be ensuring our power cut map will be updated as more information becomes available about estimated restoration times for customers’ power supplies.
"Updates will also be provided on our social media channels which we encourage customers to share. Storm Malik, whilst not at the scale of Arwen, has hit the region harder than was first forecast.
“We have mobilised our customer support vehicles immediately to ensure we have welfare arrangements in place and we are keeping local resilience partners informed of the communities worst affected as a result of Storm Malik.
“We thank our customers for their patience and would like to reassure them that we are doing all we can to provide updates about when we will be able to get their power safely back on.”
Northern Powergrid teams are actively assessing the scale of the impact and repairs required, ensuring it responds to emergency situations.
Northern Powergrid’s 24-hour contact centre has additional advisors who are offering customers support and advice. Customers can also use their mobile to visit Northern Powergrid’s Twitter (@northpowergrid) and Facebook pages where the company will continue to provide regular updates and advice to customers and local communities.
Priority service members are being kept updated "as a priorit" and thousands of text messages have already been sent.
Customers who depend on electricity for medical reasons should use Northern Powergrid's emergency contact options when calling 105.
Power cut advice and tips include:
- turn off electrical appliances at the socket (this is particularly important for heating or cooking appliances as your power could be restored at any time and potentially cause a safety hazard)
- keep one light switched on so you know when power is restored
- keep a battery or wind-up torch handy – they’re much safer than candles
- bookmark Northern Powergrid’s online power cut reporting service on your mobile devices – www.northernpowergrid.com/power-cuts and add 105, the free power cut, to mobile phone contact details
- have a charged mobile phone with important numbers, including Northern Powergrid’s contact details, easily accessible.
- check on your elderly or sick neighbours and relatives
- ensure you have warm clothing and blankets handy and some food and drink in your home that does not require electricity to heat or prepare it
- only call 999 in the event of an emergency.
For the latest local news in your area direct to your inbox every day, go here to sign up to our free newsletter
