More than 170 engineers, including inspectors and meter operators from electricity suppliers, are carrying out door-to-door safety checks on equipment before being able to safely restore power to remaining properties.

Flood defences at Carlisle and Kendal's main electricity substations protected power supplies to 110,000 properties and all repairs have now been completed at the severely damaged substations which caused the loss of power to around 13,000 customers.

Mark Williamson, operations director for Electricity North West, said: “This has clearly been an unprecedented weather event, with the most rainfall in 24-hours the UK has ever seen.

“We have completed all the repair work at our substations and we’re working day and night to visit properties and get the remaining 750 customers back on.

“We’re at the final stages now, but this is an incredibly complicated exercise as it needs customers to return to their flooded homes to get access and any damaged equipment, including meters, to be replaced by an electricity supplier.

“We would like to thank customers for their continued patience this week, we know this has been a very trying time for people and the support we have received has been incredible.”

Residents in homes affected by the floods are being asked to leave contact information in view so that engineers can make contact when onsite and restore power as quickly as possible.

Electricity North West has provided hot food and drinks to around 22,000 people in Lancaster and Cumbria this week and visit @ElectricityNW to find out the latest locations of the catering vans.

For advice on how to stay safe in a flooding event click here.

Vulnerable customers, including some older or disabled people, or those with a medical dependency on electricity, can sign up to the Priority Services Register or contact Electricity North West on 0800 195 4141.

All latest updates are being posted online at www.electricitynorthwest.co.uk, Twitter @ElectricityNW and on Electricity North West's Facebook page here.