Homeowners ‘living in the dark ages’ after Storm Malik leaves them without power

Northern Powergrid said that around 78,000 homes have been affected by the strong winds.

Stewart Sexton in Alnwick, Northumberland said the experience has been ‘awful’ (PA) (PA Wire)

People in the north east of England have said being without power is “awful” and “like living in the dark ages” as Storm Malik continues to rupture power cables across the country.

Weather warnings have been in place for most of Saturday as 100mph winds batter northern parts of the UK, causing the deaths of a 60-year-old woman in Aberdeen and a nine-year-old boy in Winnothdale, near Tean.

Power supplier Northern Powergrid said in a statement that more than 36,000 homes are still affected as a result of the storm, predominantly in Northumberland and County Durham areas.

Stewart Sexton, in Alnwick, was left without power after the damage caused by Storm Arwen, and has found himself fighting to heat his home again.

“It’s exactly like last time – no light, heat, hot water, no mobile signal in our village… which in itself is disgraceful,” Mr Sexton, 58, told the PA news agency.

“We can’t do anything, it’s awful here.

“Will we be left 10 days this time without heat, water, or mobile signal? I am standing on a hill to get this message to you.”

Mr Sexton has attempted to contact Northern Powergrid, but said its website was down.

“We are not even able to contact them… (we have had) no contact with anyone – no idea if they know we are off,” he said.

“It’ll still just be lies about reconnection times – nothing has changed since Storm Arwen.”

Martin Young is based in Blyth and has been without heating, hot water and electricity since 9am this morning.

“It’s still not on – I’ve not been able to do anything in the house,” the 35-year-old insurance broker said.

“No washing, no ironing, no cooking, food in the freezer (is) defrosting too.

“(It is) like living in the dark ages.”

Mr Young has also not been able to contact Northern Powergrid.

“Nothing at all other than the usual text after reporting the issue, no response to my tweets,” he said.

“Have had to find out all the information myself on their website. Shocking service.”

He hopes to have his power back on by 8pm this evening.

He added: “The website says 8pm, but it also said 11am at 9.30 this morning, so who knows?”

Northern Powergrid said 78,000 homes have been affected by the strong winds and warned that some customers could be without power until Monday.

They wrote in a statement: “The network operator has enacted its incident response plans and has mobilised its teams to the worst affected areas so they are ready to carry out repairs as soon as conditions permit.

“As a result of the ongoing situation, Northern Powergrid expects that some customers could be off supply for the majority of the weekend.

“Wherever possible, Northern Powergrid engineers will continue to switch electricity through alternative routes on its network to get customers back on supply.”

The Met Office have said that another blast of severe strong winds, now officially named Storm Corrie, is set to hit Scotland on Sunday and push across the North Sea in the early hours of Monday.