Storm Arwen: Northern power companies criticised over continued cuts

Electricity companies have been accused of taking too long to restore supplies after Storm Arwen caused outages across the north of England.

More than 20,000 households had a fourth night without power and some said finding information was difficult.

One resident, from Blanchland in Northumberland, said "nobody can get through to Northern Powergrid and the situation is getting desperate".

Jim Cardwell from the firm said he was "sorry for the disruption".

"There are significant areas where we've got large sections of our overhead lines that carry our power to people that need to be rebuilt in order to return supplies to normal," he said.

Northern Powergrid added it had restored power to 90% of its customers.

Meanwhile damage across Cumbria is "so widespread" some properties may be without power "for a few more days," the council said, with about 6,500 in the county currently affected.

It said Electricity North West (ENW) was mobilising teams "around the clock" to repair the network and restore power.

It comes as the Environment Agency is set to announce flood alerts in several parts, and a more serious Flood Warning for the Ulverston area.

A number of community hubs have been set up to offer support.

Indra Rampersad van Boeckel from Ford in Berwick has been without power since Friday evening and saw her shed crushed by a neighbouring tree.

"It's heart breaking really... it's not easy even making a cup of tea on a stove," the 42-year-old dentist said.

"The house is just a mess... We have burned our full stash of candles and had to get lots of extra supplies.

"(When) the power goes off, that's a different league."

Simon Lisney, from Craghead, County Durham, said his power had been off since Friday and he had spent four hours on hold to Northern Powergrid on Sunday before the line dropped.

"There's no communication," he said.

"You go on to their Facebook page, their Twitter page - they don't respond. You try and phone and the calls are dropping.

"There's been no foresight. The Beast from the East was bad but power didn't go off for four or five days."

Northern Powergrid said engineers were installing temporary fixes and using generators, and had been able to deploy helicopters to survey damage since winds had died down.

About 17,000 homes in the North East, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire are still without power, and about 3,000 in the Electricity North West area.

Some customers may be without a connection until Friday, the firms said.

ENW said the storm had been "absolutely devastating" with 800 incidents reported and just under 98,000 properties affected.

Incident manager Stephanie Trubshaw said the damage was "some of the worst we have ever seen".

More than 60,000 people had called ENW for information and the firm had contacted 6,000 vulnerable customers on its priority register, Ms Trubshaw said.

Some customers would remain without power for "a few more days", she added.

The firm has received complaints about the delay in restoring supplies alongside claims attempts to contact the company have gone unanswered.

Responding to updates on ENW's Facebook page, one customer said it was "abuse" to be left without power.

"You cannot leave people in this state during freezing temperatures," they said.

Another complained that they had been told their postcode was being dealt with on Monday night and then, on Tuesday morning, that it had been reconnected three days ago, although it was still off.

Jayme Yates-Bell, from Kendal, has diabetes and kidney failure and said the situation was "getting really challenging".

"We need to know how long we're going to be like this," she said.

"I've got a fridge with my medicine in that's now probably useless."

Thousands of people in Scotland have also spent a fourth night without power, with the north east of the country remaining the worst hit, with police declaring a major incident in the area due the widespread disruption.

Mr Cardwell said Northern Powergrid had been dealing with an "unprecedented level of calls".

"We're sorry if customers have struggled to get hold of us," he said.

"We try our very best to deal with high volumes [of calls] but there have been places and times where customers have been let down."

The company had rung those still without power on Monday to understand their circumstances, Mr Cardwell said.

He urged anyone who had not been contacted, especially if they had needs which made them more vulnerable, to "do your best to get in touch".

Richard O'Connor, from Blanchland, said the village had been without heating, power or internet since Friday night.

"Nobody can get through to Northern Powergrid and the situation is getting desperate," he said.

"People are cold and now going low on food. We need help."

Northumberland farmer Simon Bainbridge said it was time "to get the Army in".

"Get that logistics in, get people some hot food, get people some water and just try and get some of these villages back up on their feet," he said.

"People are just cold and they're miserable and they've got no water and it's just not good."

Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].