Engineers from Electricity North West are working to restore power to properties affected by Storm Franklin, the third named storm in a week.

High winds topping 65mph and heavy rain hit the region overnight which caused more than 12,900 homes to lose power.

Hundreds of engineers had already restored power to thousands of properties since storms Dudley and Eunice hit the region and since last night (Sunday) have restored another 10,469.

Stephanie Trubshaw, Electricity North West’s customer director, said: “It has been an incredibly busy few days for the region given the conditions brought by Storms Dudley, Eunice and now Franklin. Each time we have managed to restore all properties before the next storm swept in.

“Unsurprisingly, the majority of power cuts have been caused by trees falling on overhead power lines and our teams are out on site now assessing the damage that has been caused and making repairs where possible.

“Strong winds are still forecast until early afternoon causing treacherous conditions, making it difficult for our teams to climb and make repairs to the network.

“Because of the number of issues and the continuing winds, all our estimated times for restoration have been set between 24 and 48 hours. Once our teams get to site and assess the damage, we’ll update those estimates based on what they tell us so that we can give the most accurate updates possible.”

The strong winds have caused more than 50 separate incidents on the power network, the majority being in Cumbria and Lancashire.

The Met Office’s yellow weather warning remains in place until the afternoon and engineers will remain on standby for the coming days as more high winds are forecast.

Stephanie Trubshaw added: “We’ve had hundreds of people throughout the business on standby and they’re all focussing on restoring power as quickly as possible.

“I ask customers if they do see any damaged electricity equipment or lines down to stay away as it could be live and extremely dangerous. But, please do call us immediately on 105 so we can make the area safe.

“If anyone needs extra help during a power cut, I’d encourage them to sign up to our Priority Services Register so we will be able to prioritise assistance if affected.”

The latest updates are available at www.enwl.co.uk/livepowercuts.

Electricity North West offers extra support to customers through their Priority Services Register. For more information and to register visit www.enwl.co.uk/priority.

• Live power cut information in the region is available at www.enwl.co.uk/livepowercuts, and the network can be contacted on Twitteror Facebook, or by calling for free on 105 from any phone.
• Customers can stay safe and prepare themselves in the event of potential power cuts by following the simple advice here enwl.co.uk/power-cuts/helpful-tips.
• You can see how Electricity North West prepares the network throughout the year by watching this video.