ENW fully restores power to thousands after twin storms

Electricity North West has restored power to all of its customers after the twin storms, Elin and Fergus, hit the region, the distribution network operator (DNO) has said.

A total of 18,500 properties were cut off across the north west as the region was battered by the consecutive storms on Saturday and Sunday.

Felled tree branches and debris caused widespread damage bringing down overhead power lines as winds hit more than 60mph.

The high winds also hampered restoration times by making it unsafe for lines teams to climb and make repairs overnight, ENW said.

The main impact was across Lancashire but damage was also reported in Cumbria, Greater Manchester and Cheshire. The DNO said the storm had caused more than 40 individual damages to the network.

However, ENW said that it had restored power to 17,500 properties overnight on Saturday with the remainder reconnected by this (Monday) morning.

ENW incident manager Mark Mercer said yesterday that the DNO’s teams were “back out fighting the elements again to restore power to customers” following “hot on the heels” of the challenging snow conditions they had faced on the previous weekend.

“Despite many teams not being able to climb yesterday it’s been a huge effort from our engineers and we’ve made good progress restoring power to the vast majority of people affected,” he said.

“After working well into the night last night we were back on it at first light today and are thankful for a break in the weather to enable us to carry out repairs to get the remaining properties back on.

ENW also dispatched drones to effected areas to help assess damage and help prioritise repairs and worked with local food outlets to provide hot food and drink for those affected.