Parts of the North West saw record levels of rainfall when Storm Desmond hit the region on December 5, 2015, leading rivers to burst their banks and causing an estimated half a billion pounds in damage in Cumbria alone.
In Lancaster, 55,000 people were left without power after defences on the River Lune that had been designed to withstand a one-in-100 years flood were breached, overwhelming the city’s main substation.
Meanwhile in Cumbria, 13,000 people were left without power after a number of smaller substations were flooded in Carlisle and throughout the county.
Since 2015, Electricity North West, which operates the power network across the region, has invested £840 million in the network, including £5.7m to improve flood defences around the Caton Road substation and protect power supplies from potential future floods.
Clive Wilkinson, operation director at Electricity North West, said: “Storm Desmond was devastating for so much of the North West, not least for those who were left without power when record rainfall led to Lancaster’s main substation flooding.
“Our network had been well-protected even before 2015, but the ferocity of this particular storm and the sheer volume of rain in such a short period really proved how extreme weather can have a devastating impact.
“Our engineers worked around the clock in some of the worst conditions the region has ever seen to get those homes and businesses reconnected, and we didn’t stop working once the power was back on.
“In the past five years, we have invested hundreds of millions in upgrading and replacing overhead lines, cutting trees back and bolstering flood defences. We have even lifted Lancaster’s Caton Road substation onto huge metal stilts to ensure the network is protected if the area floods again.
“The result is that the North West continues to have one of the most reliable networks in the UK and, while extreme weather will always risk damage to any infrastructure, we are now better prepared than ever before.”
During Storm Desmond, parts of Cumbria saw a month’s rain fall in 24 hours – the highest level of rainfall ever in the UK. Over the course of a few days, Electricity North West handled nearly 27,000 calls from customers, made more than 4,500 proactive calls to those most vulnerable, and had more than 500 engineers working to restore power.
The company helped deploy 20,000 sandbags to prevent further flooding, used 75 large-scale generators from across the UK to provide emergency power to homes that had been cut off, and handed out 22,000 free meals to customers without electricity.
Since then, a new national phone number has been launched – 105– for customers to call if they have a power cut. Customers can also register for additional support via Electricity North West’s Priority Services Register. Go to enwl.co.uk/bewinterready to sign up and to get more help, tips and support this winter.
