Hannah Smith
Thousands of homes and businesses in the northwest of England and Scotland remain without power for a third day after widespread damage caused by Storm Malik.
Electricity companies in the region said they hoped to complete efforts to reconnect most of the estimated 16,000 homes that remained without power later on Monday, January 31.
Around 80,000 homes in England are thought to have experienced power cuts over the weekend after high winds brought by the winter storm damaged power lines and other infrastructure.
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Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said 52,300 homes and businesses lost electricity north of the border.
The majority were reconnected quickly, however Northern Powergrid said roughly 7,000 homes in Northumberland and County Durham remained without power into Sunday night, with a further 240 cut off in Cumbria.
The Scottish government said around 7,500 homes would likely remain without power into Monday morning.
Electricity North West said it hoped to have reconnected the last homes still without power by 2pm on Monday. The power companies said that 'key lessons' learned from Storm Arwen, which saw some homes go weeks without power, meant disruption was less extensive, the BBC reports.
Strong winds caused travel disruption across the northwest on Saturday, with trees brought down and most travel services cancelled. LNER said services between Newcastle and Scotland would recommence at 9am on Monday at the earliest.
Gusts of up to 93mph were recorded in Northumberland, with winds also battering other parts of the north of England and Scotland. Two people were killed by falling trees – a boy aged nine in Staffordshire, England and a 60-year-old woman in Aberdeen, Scotland, where gusts in excess of 100mph were recorded.
The race to reconnect homes to power comes as new storm advisories came into effect ahead of the arrival of Storm Corrie overnight.
The second storm in as many days was expected to bring renewed high winds and heavy rain to the north of the country, with gusts of up to 92mph recorded overnight in Stornoway on the Western Isles.
The extent of the damage caused by this latest storm is as yet unclear, however Scottish Deputy First Minister John Swinney warned that Storm Corrie would like cause more homes to lose power, saying, 'We're in for quite a challenging few days.'
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