Some people who have been without power since Storm Darragh hit at the weekend have been told they will not have it returned until Thursday at the earliest. The fourth named storm of the season brought strong gusts, bringing down power lines across the country.
Winds of 93mph were recorded in north Wales, while Welsh forecaster Derek Brockway said that Aberporth, in Ceredigion, saw gusts of 80mph or more recorded for nine hours in a row. For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter
Engineers have been working around the clock to restore electricity but on Tuesday morning, National Grid said that there were still 14,051 properties without power across south and mid Wales. People in some areas have also said they have been without water.
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One resident in Glyncorrwg, Port Talbot, said they had not had water since the early hours of Saturday morning. That has been blamed on a water pump failure.
Some schools also remain closed today after being damaged over the weekend, and local councils have opened leisure centres for anyone needing shower facilities, warm places or somewhere to recharge batteries and get water. Social service teams and pwer companies are continuing visits and calls to vulnerable people.
Councillor Gareth Lloyd, who covers the Llandissilio and Llangranog areas, told BBC Wales: “Some people were told that it would be 10pm Tuesday night, but that has now been postponed to Wednesday or Thursday. Luckily there is real community spirit and people are looking after each other. The council has opened centres where people can come in for electric, food and drink.
“When you see the damage, I think it is going to be longer before it is back to normal. There are also businesses who have been affected. It can go from being a nuisance to affecting health.”
Roisin Quinn, field operations director at National Grid Electricity Distribution, said: “Storm Darragh is the biggest storm our region has faced in decades. Our engineers, control rooms, contact centre and support teams have been working around the clock to maintain power across the network. We continue to see extremely high volumes of calls to our contact centre and I’m afraid it is taking a little longer for customers to get through. In addition to the contact centre, customers can reach us via social media and our website.
“I want to thank customers for their patience and understanding and assure you all that we are doing everything we can to get power restored across the region as soon as possible.” Join our WhatsApp news community here for the latest breaking news. You will receive updates from us daily.