Storm Arwen: Thousands of homes still without power

Thousands of people in Wales are still without electricity after Storm Arwen.

SP Energy Networks, which supplies north Wales and parts of Powys, Ceredigion, and across the English border in north Shropshire, said 9,000 customers remained without power.

SP Energy added the "very severe" damage caused to its network was the most widespread since 2015.

Worst affected is along the Dee Valley, where some people have been without electricity for more than 30 hours.

Transport for Wales is running a "limited train service" with lines reopened following storm disruption.

More than 30,000 household were without power in Wales at one point on Saturday morning.

Western Power Distribution, which serves south, west and mid Wales, said 1,087 customers remained without power at 13:00 GMT.

Andrew Thomas, from Penrhiwgoch in Carmarthenshire, has had to send his wife and baby to her parents to get food and warmth as they have been without power since 13:00 on Friday.

"It's a worry with a little one because we've got no electric and its been such a long time," said Mr Thomas.

"We can't have a shower, we've got no heating, we can't wash clothes for the little ones going to school or anything, we can't make food.

"We can't even make a cup of tea, the simple things in life have been taken away from us."

Many of the worst affected areas for electricity are in parts of rural Carmarthenshire and near the Ceredigion coast.

In Llandovery, nearly 100 customers who have been without power since early on Saturday morning have been told that repairs may be completed by 18:00 on Sunday.

Dozens of homes and businesses are still without power in Aberporth, Ceredigion, where wind gusts of 81mph (130km/h) were recorded in the early hours of Saturday.

Thousands of people across England remain without power and transport networks continue to suffer disruption.

Transport for Wales suspended the majority of its rail services on Saturday, and major roads were also blocked due to fallen trees and debris.

SP Energy said there were about 400 staff members and contractors out working on Sunday evening trying to restore power to homes.

"The damage to the network was very severe, the wind speeds were often in excess of 80mph, which has blown a lot of debris and trees onto our network," said Liam O'Sullivan, of SP Energy.

"The last time we saw damage of this magnitude was in 2015 - normally when there's damage to our network it's in a single location, which we can repair and restore all of the customers.

"But after this storm we've had to make multiple repairs just to restore a small amount of customers in some circumstances.

"We're looking now at having a small number of customers off until the early parts of Monday and Tuesday next week, but we're working hard to get everyone back on as soon as possible."

Earlier on Sunday, an SP Energy spokesman said it would offer "accommodation to vulnerable customers tonight if they are likely to be off supply".

He said Storm Arwen had "caused some of the worst damage to our network we have experienced in many years".

"Engineers are also dealing with impacted road networks making access to some of our repairs even harder," he said.

"We're in in touch with our vulnerable customers throughout the day, keeping them updated with our progress, organising hot food and drinks and other welfare services for them as needed.

"We are also offering our customers reimbursement for hot food if they continue to be off supply."

SP Energy said its crews were busy until 23:30 on Saturday and work resumed at 06:00 on Sunday when 11,000 customers were without supply.

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