Electricity North West has restored power to a further 1,700 properties in Cumbria today after deploying hundreds of additional engineers from other parts of the country to tackle the damage caused by Storm Arwen over the weekend.

As well as additional resources to help restore power, Electricity North West is working with partners including Cumbria County Council and British Red Cross to supply residents with free hot food and drinks until power is fully restored across the region. This evening these are based in:

• Coniston Sports and Social Centre, Shepherds Bridge Lane, Coniston, LA21 8AL
• Nenthead – Lane S/O Wright Bros Coaches, Alston, CA9 3NP
• Ambleside, Waterhead Car Park – Lake Road, Ambleside, LA22 0ER
• Haverthwaite, Lakeland Motor Museum – Old Blue Mill, Backbarrow, Ulverston, LA12 8TA
• Cartmel Food Shed – The Causeway, Cartmel, Grange-over-sands, LA11 6PW

Coniston Sports and Social Centre is also one of two support centres where people can go for warmth, access to a kitchen and to charge phones, the other is based at Ambleside Parish Centre.

The treacherous conditions including strong winds and heavy snow has seen more than 700 separate incidents of damage on the power network leading to 93,000 properties to be without power across the North West. Engineers have been able to restore power to 83,000 properties so far.

Repairs to the power network include removing trees from lines, repairing broken lines and poles that have been damaged by flying debris and falling trees.

Stephanie Trubshaw, Customer Director and Incident Manager for Electricity North West, said: “We understand this is an extremely difficult situation for all of our customers who have been impacted and we are working tirelessly to ensure power is restored across the region as quickly as possible.

“We’re thankful for the support of Cumbria County Council and British Red Cross for helping to arrange food and drink for residents and will ensure there is support in place until power is restored.

“We’re also working closely with the council to assist vulnerable customers across the region.”

There will be food vans in the following locations tomorrow with more to be updated - residents are urged to watch out for further updates on Electricity North West’s social feeds:

• Coniston Sports and Social Centre, Shepherds Bridge Lane, Coniston, LA21 8AL
• Lakeland Motor Museum, Old Blue Mill, Backbarrow, Ulverston, LA12 8TA