Storm Dudley: Thousands of people lose electricity due to damage

Thousands of people were left without power after Storm Dudley hit parts of the North East, Cumbria, North Yorkshire and Lancashire.

An amber warning was in place for 10 hours then a yellow wind warning from Thursday into Friday comes in as Dudley leaves and Storm Eunice arrives.

Parts of the Tyne and Wear Metro were stopped due to storm damage.

And damaged overhead wires at Carlisle blocked all lines towards Glasgow and Edinburgh, Avanti West Coast said.

Northern Powergrid said on Wednesday evening that "around 14,000 customers have been affected so far" and its teams have been able to reconnect over 10,000 customers.

But, in a statement, it added that "the peak is still ahead of us, and we are remaining on full alert".

At one point nearly 1,700 homes in Wigan were without power. Electricity North West sent engineers to deal with the problem, which was caused by strong winds.

About a thousand homes in Durham were also without electricity, with dozens of other areas affected by pockets of outages.

The Tyne and Wear Metro was suspended between Pelaw and South Shields due to a tree on the line near Tyne Dock, and between North Shields and Tynemouth due to a collapsed wall on a bridge, thought to be caused by the storm, operator Nexus said.

Durham County Council urged all drivers to take care, especially those of high-sided vehicles, on busy routes such as the A1M, A19 and A66.

The Environment Agency had three flood warnings in place as of Wednesday evening at Keswick Campsite and at the River Wye, at Litton Mill, Derbyshire, and 38 flood alerts, where flooding is possible.

The third warning for the Cumbrian coastline from St Bees Head to Millom, and then along the coast from North Head to Haverigg, said the high tide could cause flooding.

It added Storm Dudley would bring "strong winds, large waves and spray" and "vulnerable properties" along the foreshore at Braystones, Nethertown and Coulderton were susceptible.

Francis Reavley, from Kirkwhelpington, Northumberland, lost power for five days during Storm Arwen, then two days during Storm Malik.

His power went off again at about 15:00 GMT on Wednesday and after reporting it to Northern Powergrid he was told it would be back on later in the afternoon, although reconnection times have since been put back.

"I have no confidence it will be back on then because they just keep putting it back and back," he said.

"I am so frustrated and so fed up with all of this. It looks like we are going to have another dark, cold night."

In Yorkshire, the Humber Bridge was closed to high-sided vehicles while a number of trains between Leeds and London were cancelled due to damage to overhead power lines.

Winds measuring 74mph were recorded at Emley Moor, between Huddersfield and Wakefield.

Forecasters said Eunice could also bring snow in high areas.

London North Eastern Railway (LNER) advised customers with tickets for journeys between York or Leeds and London King's Cross on Friday to bring them forward to Thursday.

By BBC Weather forecaster Simon King

Dudley will affect the north of the UK bringing 60 to 70mph winds, which are not extraordinary for this time of year for those areas.

But there are travel restrictions and there will be some damage, some disruption and we need to take care and make arrangements as Storm Dudley will pack a punch.

With an amber warning there's the potential for some trees coming down, possibly on to power lines which could lead to more power cuts.

But I think we need to be more careful about Storm Eunice - it's going to come in from the South West and it's going to hit a good portion of England and Wales.

When we're talking about gusts of wind of 70 to 80mph through inland areas of southern and central England, that is quite extraordinary and we're going to see some extremely strong winds of possibly up to 100mph around coastal areas.

As Eunice moves in we might well see quite significant snow over the hills of northern England, into southern Scotland and Northern Ireland, so it's not just the wind.

On Sunday we could see another storm, but the focus for the moment is Dudley and Eunice.

A generator has been installed at Jubilee Hall in Rothbury, Northumberland, in case the village suffers power outages as it did in Storm Arwen in November and Storm Malik in January.

Northumberland County councillor Stephen Bridgett said the hall would act as a "warm hub" if needed, adding: "As soon as I see another storm come in, it is a weight on the shoulders."

Police in Cumbria said a "multi-agency response" had been prepared to tackle any impact from the storms.

Supt Matt Pearman said: "All agencies are working together to ensure that our communities have access to the help and support they may require during the storms.

"We also ask that our communities prepare themselves ahead of Dudley and Eunice and make themselves aware of the key contacts and ensure any vulnerable people within our communities are also aware and prepared."

Richard Warren from the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association urged people to "stay at home" during the storms.

He said he felt sorry for visitors who had come to the Lake District for holidays as the weather was "appalling", but said conditions on the hilltops would be "horrendous".

Mr Warren said there had been 87 callouts since the start of the year, compared with 40 in the same period in 2020, most of which were "avoidable".

"We will go out whenever we have to but even we would be at risk of being blown over and injured if we have to go out in the next couple of days," Mr Warren said.

"Stay at home. There'll be trees coming down and all sorts of problems."

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