Nearly 58,000 homes are still without power in south Wales, 24-hours after the peak of Storm Darragh battered the country. Over 370,000 homes have lost power since the start of the storm on Friday night. There was a rare red danger to life weather warning in place until 11am on Saturday, with Amber warnings for wind and rain in place throughout the day.
On Sunday, nearly 24-hours since the red weather warning in place, the National Grid confirmed that 57,769 were off supply in south Wales as of 8am. The north of the country is managed by SP Energy Networks which also manages the north of England. While work is underway to restore power to the remaining affected homes, some people say they have been told their outage could last until Sunday night.
The National Grid said that power has been restore to 370,134 properties since the beginning of the storm. There is a yellow Met Office weather warning for wind in place until 6pm on Sunday night. The forecaster has also warned that wind gusts nearing 70mph are expected in parts, gales of 93mph were recorded in some parts of Wales on Saturday. You can follow our full storm coverage here.
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One person in Coity, Bridgend say they have been without power since just before 6am on Saturday, and have been told their power is not expected to be returned until 6pm on Sunday – after being originally told it would return by 11pm on Saturday. They say they have not yet seen any engineers working in their area and have had little communication. Another resident near Morriston, Swansea, say they have been without power for over 24-hours.
Speaking on the power cuts, Roisin Quinn, Field Operations Director at National Grid Electricity Distribution, said: “The adverse weather has made working conditions for our engineers challenging but they are continuing to make progress – tackling faults to get people’s power back on as speedily and safely as they can. Since the start of the storm, we have restored over 370,000 properties in the South Wales.”
“We’d like to thank customers across South Wales for their patience if they’ve been affected by Storm Darragh. Our engineering teams are working around the clock to get homes and businesses reconnected as quickly and safely as possible.”
A major incident was declared by a police force in Wales on Saturday as a result of the storm. Dyfed-Powys Police said that in partnership with other emergency services, people were asked not to travel to maintain safety. In Cardiff, Cardiff Council said they received 300 call outs, largely linked to fallen trees. Find out more about this here.
The current yellow weather warning in place for Wales on Sunday reads: “Storm Darragh will be moving away from the UK through Sunday but will continue to leave a legacy of strong north to northeasterly winds across much of England and Wales.
“Winds will quite widely gust to 35-45 mph inland but locally could gust in excess of 50 mph, especially over higher ground. Around coasts, winds will gust to 50-60 mph, perhaps locally nearer 70 mph during the morning. The wind may cause disruption to travel, with difficult driving conditions likely. Winds will very slowly ease from the north through the day.” Join our WhatsApp news community here for the latest breaking news. You will receive updates from us daily.