Severe flooding has caused widespread disruption throughout the morning causing loss of power to customers in Rochdale and Lancashire with 10,000 properties currently off supply.

30,000 properties are usually supplied with electricity from the main substation in Rochdale. Engineers from Electricity North West shifted 10,000 properties from the substation an hour before the flooding hit to secure supplies.

The remaining 20,000 properties were affected by power cuts at 10am, engineers restored power to 10,000 of those by 12.15pm.

Engineers from Electricity North West are onsite and working in difficult conditions to repair damage caused by heavy rain and subsequent floods in Lancashire.

Engineers have been on standby over Christmas and are now working hard to restore the remaining 10,000 properties as quickly as possible.

In response the Met Office weather warning for heavy rain the power operator has been closely monitoring the weather and put in place more than 22,000 sandbags to help protect key substations.

Mark Williamson, operations director for Electricity North West, said: “We're continuing to work hard in extremely difficult conditions to restore supplies to as many people as we can as quickly as possible, but severe flooding has caused damage to local substations in Rochdale and Lancashire.

“We have drafted in extra engineers and will continue to work throughout the day to get everyone back on and we are here 24 hours a day seven days a week so please contact us if you need any advice or information.”

Vulnerable customers, including some older or disabled people, or those with a medical dependency on electricity, can also sign up to the Priority Services Register by visiting www.enwl.co.uk/priority or contacting Electricity North West on 0800 195 4141.

For advice on how to stay safe in a flooding event, please visit www.enwl.co.uk/power-cuts/flooding-advice.

To report a power cut please call 0800 195 4141 or follow @ElectricityNW or visit www.electricitynorthwest.co.uk.