Restoration efforts continue throughout the North West as strong winds brought by Storm Éowyn persist.  

Power has now been restored to more than 39,600 properties, despite incredibly strong wind speeds which have topped 75mph.  

Trees, branches and debris have caused mass damage to the power network. Impact has been predominantly seen in north Cumbria with some areas in Lancashire, south Cumbria and Greater Manchester impacted.  

Technology which Electricity North West has invested in continues to play a crucial role in restoring power and where possible, engineers are carrying out repairs on site and are working to restore power to 20,000 properties. More than 95 separate incidents have impacted the Electricity North West network. 

Severe winds persist across the region and in some instances, it may not be safe for overhead lines teams to climb poles and repair damage until wind speeds decrease.    

In what is a developing situation, Electricity North West has again adjusted its restoration times on some power cuts and the current latest restoration time is Sunday at 6pm. This follows on from extensive customer feedback who want to be made aware of the worst-case scenario. 

“We are constantly tracking the weather and whilst the severe winds might have passed, we’re still expecting extremely strong gusts into the evening,” said Electricity North West’s incident manager Steph Trubshaw. 

“We want to be honest with customers and following on from extensive feedback, which we collate after every weather event, we’ve made the decision to set restoration times for Sunday at 6pm.  

“We’ll update these when we get more updates from site, and I want to stress that the times are a worst-case scenario in an emerging situation.” 

Electricity North West’s contact centre has now handled 4,500 inbound calls whilst colleagues have proactively reached out to more than 70,000 customers with key updates.  

Welfare support is also being provided to support surrounding areas at the following locations:  

• Kings Arms, Stainton  CA11 0EP.  Open until late (supported by village hall as warm space). Providing hot food and drinks.
• Plough Inn, Wreay  CA4 0RL.  Open 2:30pm and 4:30pm to 10pm.
• The Commodore Inn, Grange Over Sands  LA11 6DY.  Open until 11pm.  Providing hot Food and drinks.
• The Tavern, Hale  LA7 7BH (10-15min drive from LA5).  Open until 11pm. Providing hot food and drinks.
• The Watermill Inn, Staveley  LA8 9PY.  Open until 9pm for food and 10pm for drinks.
• The Falcon Club, Egremont  CA22 2QN.  Open until 8.30pm for food and hot drinks.
• The Pheasant Inn, Keswick  CA12 5PP.  Open until 10pm.  Serving food between 5.30pm - 8.30pm.
• The Hanging Gate, Manchester Rd, Chapel-en-le-Frith, High Peak  SK23 9UH. Open until 7:30pm.  Providing food and drink.

The Met Office’s Amber weather warning remains in place for all of the North West until midnight on Friday. Large parts of the UK and Ireland have been impacted by Storm Éowyn with more than 1.1million properties affected.  

“Storm Éowyn is very much a national weather event and mass devastation has occurred to power networks,” added Steph. 

“Our teams will work around the clock to ensure power is restored as quickly and as safely as possible to our customers. 

“We know it can be incredibly difficult to be without power, especially if you rely on it for medical equipment or have other needs, so if you need any additional support, please contact us and let us know.”   

You can view live power cut information in the region at www.enwl.co.uk/powercuts, get in touch on X or Facebook, or by calling 105 for free from any phone.  

Electricity North West offers extra support to customers through its Extra Care Register. For more information and to register go to www.enwl.co.uk/ExtraCare.