Thousands of homes in the north of England are facing a sixth day without power after cuts caused by Storm Arwen. Northern Powergrid (NP) said 11,000 were still off and according to Electricity North West's (ENWL) latest figures more than 2,000 homes, mostly in Cumbria, are still without power. ENWL said it was bringing in extra engineers to try and restore all supplies by Friday. Some households have been moved into temporary accommodation. Local community hub volunteers in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria have arranged rooms in hotels or vacant holiday lets. Paul Merricks, from High Newton, has moved into a flat in Cartmel with his young family and their dog. He said it was good to "have home showers, wash clothes, make our own food". However, Sara Stanley, from Medburn in Northumberland, has Covid and cannot leave her home. "The mains supplier had a recorded message... advising you to seek shelter with relatives or at a hotel because of the freezing conditions - I couldn't do either," she said. "Luckily two residents on my estate managed to strong-arm our utilities company into setting up a generator on our estate Woodlands Manor and also one on Medburn Manor, which they did yesterday." NP said engineers were reconnecting people as quickly as possible and planning to go back later to make permanent repairs. Jim Cardwell from the company said it would not be able to restore all supplies by the weekend, especially in more remote areas. "For most people it's going to be this week but undoubtedly there will be some that go into next week," he said. Andy Smith, from Lambrigg near Kendal, has no power, running water or heating. "I go online every day, onto the Electricity North West website, and every day it just says it'll be back on by 4pm," he said. "That's been the case for a week now. "We did have a team out on Tuesday night, at midnight. I went... |