04/04/2012

Thousands Of Homes Without Power

Tens of thousands of homes and businesses in England are without power after ice and gales brought down power lines across the country.

According to a report by the Northern Power Grid a combination of strong winds, heavy ice and snow have brought down overhead power lines in the Northeast and Yorkshire areas affecting power supplies to customers over the past 18 hours.

Northern Powergrid has managed to restore 50% of customer supplies affected by the severe weather conditions and is now dealing with around 200 known incidents, leaving approximately 40,000 properties without power.

It is understood that access and travel to locate and repair the damage is challenging due to the weather conditions, including significant snow drifts.

A spokesperson for the power provider said: "Significant areas impacted include the Whitby area in North Yorkshire with 12,000 customers without power, and 4,000 customers affected in Consett, County Durham. We have deployed our customer service vehicles to these areas to provide hot drinks and offer support and advice to our customers whilst the repair work is undertaken."

(LB)

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