Engineers have restored power to 22,000 properties in Ashton under Lyne following damage to an underground power cable earlier today.

Just 79 properties, mainly business premises, remain without power due to access issues.

An earlier power cut affected 22,000 homes and businesses when another company damaged multiple underground power cables in the area.

The damaged cables operate at 33,000 volts serving a wide area, and engineers have been working to restore power by switching supplies to other parts of the network.

Electricity North West incident manager, Chris Fox said: "I'm delighted we've been able to restore almost all properties following this damage to our cables. We've connected 13 large generators to the network to restore supplies and are working through the night to repair the damaged cables.

"We already have 30 engineers on site and we'll keep teams on site to ensure the generators continue to provide power until we can switch everyone back to the repaired network on Wednesday."

Electricity North West sent food vans to The Royal Oak pub, Lees Road junction with Nook Lane earlier to serve free hot food and drinks to customers without power.

Electricity North West also proactively contacted hundreds of customers on its priority service register who may need additional support.

Chris added: "Customers who have been restored by generators may have a very short interruption again tomorrow while we switch them back to the main supply. We will post updates on our social media channels throughout the day. Thanks to everyone for their patience while we fixed the damage, and thanks to our teams for their sterling efforts in difficult conditions."

Updates are being posted on Twitter and Facebook for the latest information.

Photos: A cable jointer prepares the damaged cable for repair. Some of the generators currently powering properties in Ashton.