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A man in Northumberland has called the lack of support from his local power supplier “a disgrace” as he prepares to tackle a third consecutive day with no heating, hot water or electricity.
Storm Malik has wreaked havoc across northern parts of the country, as Northern Powergrid confirmed 7,000 homes were still without power as of 6.30pm on Sunday.
Stewart Sexton, in Alnwick, lost power for 10 days after Storm Arwen and said he and his family do not feel well supported this time.
“No sign of contact or support,” the 58-year-old told the PA news agency.
“Will we be last again? Why should we be last? We pay the same service and expect the same service.
“It’s a disgrace… nothing from councillors or MP to support us either – zilch.”
Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan is the MP for Mr Sexton’s constituency, Berwick-upon-Tweed, and has not yet publicly commented on power outages caused by Storm Malik, but said in her weekly email to constituents that she will “continue to push” Northern Powergrid to compensate their customers in the aftermath of Storm Arwen.
Mr Sexton is making use of a “small generator” to power a lamp and a radio in his house.
“Not enough to boil a kettle though,” he said.
“We have always had storms (but) never had days without power… even the ‘Beast from the East’ and snow in 2010 didn’t cut us off.”
Clare Stirling-Turnbull, in Powburn, Northumberland, also suffered power outages during Storm Arwen and has been without heating and electricity since 9am on Saturday.
“We are a family of six (which is) slightly more problematic this time as one of the children is currently isolating – she has Covid,” the 47-year-old hospitality worker explained.
“So we can’t go to relatives’ houses… we have no electric, no heating or hot water – we do have a wood burner so can heat one room.”
The family are “well prepared” thanks to a gas barbeque, candle, and hot water bottles.
Ms Stirling-Turnbull said that visually the storm was “frightening” for her children.
“There is still so much damage from Arwen, so much more debris… it’s heartbreaking for this area – vast areas of woods have just been flattened,” she said.
She acknowledged the “mammoth task” Northern Powergrid is facing.
“They have done all they possibly can, reconnection times are only an estimate.
“We fully understand that they try their utmost to reconnect as quickly as possible.”
Northern Powergrid said those affected are living in Northumberland and County Durham, as Storm Corrie brings another blast of strong winds.
Director Paul Glendinning said: “Given what we now know, we expect that around 4,000 customers will still be off supply as we go into tomorrow. We have confirmed that there is around 200 damage points on the low voltage network that will reconnect only a small number of customers for each repair.”
Andy Bilclough, Northern Powergrid’s director of field operations, said: “The assessment of damage that we now have makes it clear that there is still a lot to do. We will get as much done as we can today for as long as it is safe to do so and get back out as soon as possible tomorrow.”
The supplier’s goal of having power restored to another 3,000 homes by Sunday evening is “subject to the effects of Storm Corrie”.