Northern Powergrid says it has taken precautions to protect its network as heavy winds from Storm Diana continue to batter the UK.
Additional staff members are working at Northern Powergrid’s local 24-hour control, dispatch and contact centre after the Met Office predicted strong winds of 60 to 65mph across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire.
There is potential for gusts between 70 and 80mph in some exposed locations on higher ground and coastal areas.
Rod Gardner, head of network operations at Northern Powergrid, said: “We’ve been monitoring the weather very closely over the last few days and have taken action to ensure that we have extra engineers ready to restore power and carry out repairs if there is any disruption or damage to our network as a result of the forecast weather.
“We’re also ready with additional staff at our local 24-hour control, dispatch and contact centre, which can be reached by calling the free 105 power cut number, as well as teams in other locations around our business who will be ready to offer our customers support and advice.
“Our website, northernpowergrid.com, has an easy-to-use power cut map and reporting service which our customers can use to report a power cut and get updates about what we’re doing to get their lights back on.”
Storm Diana is not the first storm this year to cause disruption to the UK.
In September Storm Ali claimed the life of a man in his 20s working as a contractor in County Armagh with Northern Ireland Water (NI Water).
NI Water said another man was injured during the incident which happened at a water pumping station at Slieve Gullion Forest Park.