Considerable progress has been made by engineers from Electricity North West despite horrendous overnight conditions brought by Storm Isha. 

Wind speeds of 80mph have been recorded as fallen trees, branches and debris have caused widespread damage across the North West.    

Despite the treacherous conditions, engineers have utilised advanced technology and have been able to restore power to more than 36,000 properties with more than 120 individual damages reported.  

Impact has been seen across the region, predominantly in Lancashire and Cumbria, and teams are now working to restore the remaining 8,500 properties. Conditions are still incredibly testing and, in some areas, particularly in the North Lakes, wind speeds are high, meaning teams are unable to climb.  

Steph Trubshaw, Electricity North West’s customer director, said: “Conditions are some of the worst we’ve seen in a long time and for several hours, we saw wind speeds regularly reach 80mph.  

“Given how severe the weather was, last night, for safety reasons, we made the decision to stand teams down as it was simply too dangerous for engineers to climb. 

“This morning, hundreds of colleagues are going to be assessing damage on the network and where conditions allow, we’ll start to climb to and carry out permanent repairs.” 

As well as operational colleagues responding, hundreds of colleagues will also be proactively contacting customers on the Extra Care Register and knocking on doors.  

A helicopter is also being utilised to help assess damage in some hard to reach areas across Cumbria.  

Electricity North West’s call centre has already handled 3,795 calls and teams will be on hand to provide help and support to those in need.  

“We understand this is a difficult time for customers and we’ve already made the decision to move restoration times to tomorrow evening until we can get more up to date reports from site and we’ll ensure customers are kept up to date,” added Steph. 

“As always, should any customers see any damage to the network, they should stay clear and report it to us by calling 105.”