Storms Malik and Corrie: Final homes have power reconnected

Power has been restored to homes after two storms caused up to four days of cuts, an energy firm has said.

About 97,000 homes in Northumberland and County Durham suffered power cuts caused by Storm Malik on Saturday and Storm Corrie on Sunday.

Northern Powergrid said it had restored power to all those affected and would now "move quickly" to make compensation payments.

The firm said it was "sorry for the inconvenience".

The power went out for about 80,000 properties on Saturday during the first storm, which brought winds of up to 93mph, with another 17,000 suffering outages caused by Storm Corrie.

Head of customer service, Louise Lowes, said: "We understand that it is difficult for our customers to be without power for this length of time.

"We have appreciated their patience throughout and we're sorry for the inconvenience."

Andy Bilclough, director of field operations, said the repairs had been "challenging" and it had been a "huge effort" from staff of which he was "very proud".

Northern Powergrid said it had learned lessons around communication from Storm Arwen in November, which saw some properties cut off for up to six days, after customers complained they could not get on the firm's website.

The company said it had made changes to reinforce its website and "provide a better service".

Meanwhile, Durham County Council said it has de-escalated the major incident status declared in the wake of Storm Malik.

Chief executive John Hewitt said "the impact of the storms" remained a priority and the local authority was "focused on helping communities to recover".

The Tyne and Wear Metro has also fully reopened after the stretch between Benton and Monkseaton was closed for three days because of storm damage.

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