Storm Arwen causes three day power cut in Winsford

With winds gusting up to 75mph, trees were brought down, with some falling on power lines, causing outages across the country.

Residents living in the Meadowbank area of Winsford lost power at around 11pm on Friday, November 26 and it still hadn't been restored by Monday afternoon.

Energy provider Scottish Power have told some residents it might be back on by midnight, while an elderly member of the community has been told she will be put up in a hotel.

Suzanne Badder, who lives on School Road with her partner, said it was like returning to the dark ages, with no power to cook or stay warm.

"We're at least fortunate in that we have a log burner, so we're not as bad as others," she said.

"But obviously we can't cook anything cos we're on electric.

"It makes you realise just how many of these things you take for granted.

"A lot of people haven't gas, so they're relying on electric fires, which obviously aren't working now."

The power outage is believed to have been caused by a tree falling on three power lines in the area, with one neighbour having particular difficulties.

"One of our neighbours is elderly and she relies on an oxygen machine," Suzanne added.

"They been able to borrow a generator, and although she has got an electric fire now, it isn't giving off that much heat due to the output of the generator.

"We had been told that it might be on by midnight, but the neighbour has been offered a hotel for the night, so we're not sure about that now.

"They could have dropped some gas heaters off, but we've had absolutely nothing from them."

Another Meadowbank resident, Francesca Ellis, who is a mother of three young children, said the last three days had been a nightmare.

"First of all I was informed it would be on 8pm Sunday.

"When I spoke to someone this morning they advised the engineers were looking into it and estimated 6pm tonight.

"Then I had a phone call at around 3pm to be told they are now estimating midnight.

"It’s very worrying for those that have babies and young children like myself as well as those that are elderly.

"Luckily we’ve all pulled together and helped each other where and when we can."

SP Energy Networks spokesperson said: "Over the weekend, Storm Arwen brought winds of over 90mph and, as a result, has caused some of the worst damage to our network we have experienced in over 15 years.

"We apologise to all of our customers who have been affected by the damage, we understand the inconvenience this has caused many households and we appreciate everyone’s patience whilst we continue to try to resolve the ongoing issues.

"Our engineers have been out working since Friday night to try to get power on as quickly and safely as possible, but it has been difficult as the damage across our network has been extensive, we’ve seen over 600 faults in Scotland and 700 in England and Wales. Since the beginning of the storm engineers have reconnected over 150,000 customers.

"In many areas, the damage has been severe due to fallen trees and other wind-blown debris and engineers are also dealing road closures and access challenges making some of our repairs even harder.

"The time it is taking us to get our customers back on is reflective of the number of faults and severity of the damage to the network; where normally we would deal with one or two faults on a line and be able to get a number of customers on, we’re finding several faults on one line and where this is repaired we’re only able to restore power to a small handful of customers.

"We’re continuing to keep our customers up-to-date with our progress and we’re keeping in in touch with our vulnerable customers throughout the day, ensuring they are updated with our progress, organising hot food and drinks and providing other welfare services for them as needed. We are also offering our customers reimbursement for hot food if they continue to be off supply.

"Beyond this, we will be offering accommodation to vulnerable customers tonight if they are likely to still be off supply."