Thousands of people are still without power in south Wales as Western Power Distribution has admitted Storm Eunice has brought "some of the worst conditions it has ever seen".
The electricity distribution company has revealed that in south Wales, there are still 13,092 customers without supply on Saturday evening. It has so far restored supplies to 88,966 customers.
In the South West region, there has been "the highest number of power cuts ever experienced", with efforts ongoing to restore supplies to 44,623 customers.
READ MORE: Some roads still closed this morning due to Storm Eunice damage
It said in a statement that its engineers are "continuing to work relentlessly to restore supplies to our customers despite the awful conditions".
Operations director Graham Halladay said: “Storm Eunice has brought some of the worst conditions we have ever seen – it is truly unprecedented. But I would like to reassure customers that we are working round the clock to get the lights back on as quickly as we can safely do so.
“The scale of the destruction means that engineers are still finding it difficult to access faults and there is still a lot of debris to clear before individual repairs can begin. We are sorry it is taking so long. We are on the case and we shall remain on the case until all supplies are restored.”
A statement added: "We have nearly 850 individual power cuts that we are working on. Unfortunately, we have to clear the fallen trees and debris before we can assess what needs to be done and carry out the repair. We have brought in extra teams to help and our helicopters have been patrolling the lines to speed up fault detection.
"As well as field crews braving the elements to restore supplies, we have drafted in staff from across our business to answer customer calls as quickly as possible and to provide information updates that we know are vital so that our customers can plan ahead. Our Contact Centres remain nearly eight times busier than on an average Saturday afternoon. In addition, our website has had its busiest period ever, with more than 1.1 million hits in the past 24 hours.
"We estimate that the vast majority of customers will have their electricity restored by Monday night, but we will be moving heaven and earth to restore customers sooner wherever possible and will provide updates as soon as we’ve assessed the conditions on the ground. These are different for every incident and the repairs needed, and tree clearances to gain access, are proving very complex.
"In addition the weather conditions facing our crews remains particularly bad as we continue to operate under an amber weather warning. Unfortunately further poor weather is forecast, which could create additional challenges. We are aware that our power cut map is showing restoration times into Tuesday but these are for more recent faults."
It added that it is staying in touch with its most vulnerable customers and continuing to liaise with the British Red Cross which is providing welfare support. The National Caterers Association is also assisting.
If you see damage to Western Power Distribution's equipment or spot electricity poles or power lines that are down, you are advised to stay clear of them and call 105. For live power cut information, click here.
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