UK weather: Chaos of 92mph Storm Corrie as power network issues ‘red alert’

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Tens of thousands of people remained without power today after back-to-back storms with ‘exceptionally strong’ 92mph winds caused devastation across Britain – leaving two people dead, closing schools and cancelling trains.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks issued a ‘red alert’ as Storm Corrie left 30,000 people without power today, on top of 7,000 homes still cut off from Storm Malik which left the network with ‘significant damage’.

Northern Powergrid said 7,000 houses in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham had no power today – 4,000 from Malik and another 3,000 from Corrie – and the North East remained under a wind warning.

Some residents in the North East have been cut off again just weeks after being reconnected following a ten-day outage after Storm Arwen last November and slammed the lack of support from power suppliers as a ‘disgrace’. 

A nine-year-old boy was crushed by a tree during a pheasant shoot in Staffordshire on Saturday, in an incident which also injured a 72-year-old man – while a 60-year-old woman died when a tree fell on her in Aberdeen.

Today, several schools in Aberdeenshire said they would be shut or delay opening as they struggled with power and heating problems – while ScotRail cancelled all of its services last night due to the intense conditions.

Engineers carried out safety checks through the night following an ‘exceptionally challenging weekend’ with a view to reopening lines this morning, but there were no LNER trains between Edinburgh and Newcastle until 9am. 

Network Rail said it was carrying out safety checks in a bid to reopen the line, including monitoring overhead electric wires to ensure they have not been damaged and running trains to check for debris on tracks.

Affected operators also include CrossCountry and TransPennine Express. Passenger trains will initially be required to run at slower speeds than normal even once the line reopens, leading to further delays to journeys. 

The Thames Barrier was closed due to a forecast tidal surge as a result of Corrie – with the 1,770ft structure, which has been shut about 200 times since 1982, protecting up to 640,000 properties along the river from flooding.

Wind gusts of 92mph were recorded in both Stornoway on the Western Isles and Inverbervie in Aberdeenshire overnight as Corrie began to hit the UK – while the top speed in England was 69mph at St Bees Head in Cumbria. 

Meanwhile the Highland Wildlife Park in Kingussie, Inverness-shire, had to be shut today ‘to keep everyone safe’ due to the storm. It comes after a 93mph gust during Malik hit Brizlee Wood in Northumberland on Saturday. 

The Energy Networks Association, which represents the industry, said electricity engineers had restored power to 177,000 homes and businesses affected by storm damage over the weekend. It added that restoration efforts will continue into tomorrow ‘with the possibility that for small clusters of customers this may extend into Wednesday’. 

The wild weather continued into today with a weather warning issued for high winds across northern England, which the Met Office said could cause danger to life from flying debris and damage to buildings and trees.

But temperatures will begin to climb well above the January average of 5C (41F) in the North and 7C (45F) in the South – reaching 10C (50F) today before peaking at 13C (55F) tomorrow and on Wednesday. The milder conditions are the result of a high pressure system to the South bringing in a westerly airflow in the aftermath of Corrie.

Meanwhile residents in the North East have said they are ‘enraged’ and ‘annoyed’ after being left without power for days. One man in County Durham said pensioners in his village were ‘suffering’, while another said ‘very few lessons had been learned’ since Storm Arwen in November.

Peter Isgate, who lives in Finchale Abbey Village, said power had been off in the residential park since 10am on Saturday, and Northern Powergrid arrived this morning. The 65-year-old council worker said: ‘The average age is around 70, 75. Some people have got electric hobs so they’ve got no heating at all. Most of them have got dogs so the animals are suffering, they’re suffering. There’s been nobody down to see them. 

‘They’ve offered to bring coffee and hot food this morning. It’s not about food, you know. You can get a takeaway or something like that. It’s about heat and cold, old people feel it, and it just seems like they’re getting ignored. There’s some people haven’t got cars, they’re past the age of driving, so they’re basically stuck here in this cold weather.’

PR worker Bryn Hylton, 45, lives in a remote farmhouse in Knitsley, County Durham. He said: ‘We’re quite philosophical about the power cut itself, these things happen. We live in a rural location and, while you don’t expect these things, you can be quite forgiving of them. 

‘What annoys me the most is just the lack of communication.’ Mr Hylton added: ‘It’s really the lack of information – and I get they’re trying to deal with 1000s of people, but I think it seems that very few lessons have been learned in the comms since Storm Arwen and it seems to be a case of history repeating itself.’

Stewart Sexton, 58, from Alnwick, Northumberland, lost power for 35 hours over the weekend, having previously been badly affected by Storm Arwen. He said: ‘To be honest I’m enraged. This situation never happened before Arwen yet we did get storms. It’s all about a lack of maintenance of the infrastructure and no resilience plan from Northern Powergrid. 

‘We have had power cuts for 298 hours since November 26, just over two months. By any reckoning that must be unacceptable and it indicates that there is certainly something wrong with the infrastructure around our communities, while neighbouring larger villagers didn’t lose power at all.’

There was a cold and blustery start to this morning after the stormy weekend across northern England and Scotland with gusts hitting 30mph even in London today, although wind speeds are set to slowly decrease today.

Wind speeds hit 80mph over wide areas of Scotland and 70mph in northern England over the weekend, and Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said: ‘That is exceptionally strong for any time of the year.

‘There is no wonder there were significant impacts such as power outages and damage to buildings. It is very unfortunate that things were worse than that for some people.’

In Staffordshire, the nine-year-old boy was crushed by a tree during a pheasant shoot in the grounds of a private estate, according to nearby residents yesterday. 

A 72-year-old man was also struck by the tree on the 404 acre The Heath House Estate near Tean, Staffordshire. He remained in hospital yesterday. 

The Heath House Estate boasts a gothic revival mansion which is used as a wedding venue with guest accommodation. 

A local resident said the boy was and the man were hit by a branch as the tree toppled during heavy winds on the final shoot of the morning.

The resident said that the last shoot was traditionally for the beaters – whose job is to flush birds from the undergrowth in the direction of the guns. 

It is understood that the victim was taking part with a relative who was one of the beaters.

‘I did not see the tree come down but there was a massive gust of wind and I had to find bricks to pin down my garden furniture covers’, the resident said.

‘I saw two air ambulances land in the field and a lot of police cars rushing to the scene. ‘This is popular pheasant shooting country. It is very tragic but it just appears that he was in the wrong place when that gust hit the tree.’

The estate outside Winnothdale has been home to the Philips family since the 1680s and played host to Florence Nightingale after the Crimean War. 

It has also featured on the Channel 4 series Country House Rescue.

There was no answer at the main house yesterday – although bottles of milk had been delivered and remained outside. The venue’s published phone number is no longer in use.

Police were called to reports that a tree had fallen on a boy and a man at 1pm on Saturday. Both were taken to the Royal Stoke University Hospital, where the boy was pronounced dead.

Earlier that day, a woman died when a tree fell on her on an Aberdeen housing estate amid gusts of 85mph.

Sky Sports News reporter Keith Downie told how he was ‘badly shaken but still alive’ after an oak tree fell on his Newcastle driveway, destroying two cars including his new BMW.

High winds ripped the roof from a terrace house in nearby Gateshead, while a woman was extracted from a car in  Altrincham, Greater Manchester, with life-threatening injuries after it was crushed by a an uprooted tree while she was sat in it. 

Wintry showers were expected across northern parts of Scotland today, raising the risk of ice on untreated surfaces, while forecasters said up to 1in (1cm to 2cm) of snow could fall in some areas. 

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the impact of Storm Corrie is ‘likely to be significant’. She tweeted yesterday: ‘Work to repair the damage from Storm Malik continues. 

‘Tens of thousands have had power reconnected already – however, many will remain off supply again tonight and some, especially in north east, could be off into Tuesday. Welfare arrangements are in place.

‘Special arrangements remain in place for vulnerable customers and local resilience partnerships continue to work with councils to provide welfare support.’

In addition to hitting the North East, strong winds may affect parts of Norfolk, where large waves could hit the coast.

Forecasters said that people should beware of flying debris that could lead to injuries, and there may be some damage to buildings including tiles being blown from roofs.

Ice warnings were issued by the Met Office covering Grampian, Highlands and Eilean Siar, Strathclyde and Fife today as falling temperatures after Corrie may see some snowfall and turn untreated surfaces icy. 

Mr Burkill said: ‘It is not just the case of strong winds causing problems – there is also the ice risk across parts of Scotland through to the early part of Monday morning.

‘There will be some wintry showers. Emergency services are trying to get out, utility companies are trying to make repairs and so the icy conditions are not going to make that easier for them.’

Hospitality worker Clare Stirling-Turnbull, 47, of Powburn, Northumberland, said last night that she had been without heating and electricity since 9am on Saturday. 

To make matters worse, one of the children in her family of six has Covid and is currently isolating.

She said: ‘So we can’t go to relatives’ houses… we have no electric, no heating or hot water – we do have a wood burner so can heat one room.’

The family were ‘well prepared’ thanks to a gas barbeque, candle and hot water bottles, she said.

Northern Powergrid said that around 80,000 customers, almost all in Northumberland and County Durham, had been affected by power cuts.

Director Paul Glendinning said: ‘Given what we now know, we expect that around 4,000 customers will still be off supply as we go into tomorrow (Monday). We have confirmed that there is around 200 damage points on the low voltage network that will reconnect only a small number of customers for each repair.’

Some 7,500 households are expected to be without power by the end of last night, the Scottish Government said in an update at 7pm yesterday. 

Peter Kocen from the Energy Networks Association said: ‘Network operators restored power to 177,000 customers who have been affected by the storms over the weekend and last night. We are continuing to work as quickly and safely as possible to reconnect everyone, with 45,500 people without power just now. 

‘We are working closely with local authorities to coordinate a community response and provide support, including hot meals and respite, to those affected.’ 

Deputy First Minister John Swinney told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme there had been ‘a much stronger join-up between the power companies and the local resilience partnerships over the course of the weekend’.

Mr Swinney stated: ‘There has been, and continues to be, an extensive network of various centres and catering facilities available for people around about the communities that are affected by the loss of power, and individual contacts by the power companies with individuals.’

Richard Gough, of Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, said ‘we expect the full restoration of customer supplies from both storms to extend into the early part of next week’.

The network said it ‘remains at red alert status for its north of Scotland licence area as its teams continue to respond to the significant damage caused to network infrastructure as a result of Storms Malik and Corrie’.

Mr Gough said Corrie hitting yesterday evening through to Monday morning had ‘compounded’ the challenge they faced.

He said: ‘Our teams have continued to make strong progress restoring power to customers impacted by the extreme weather from Storm Malik, with over 90 per cent of those customers restored.

‘Whilst our teams are making every effort to restore customers as soon as possible, the cumulative impact of Storms Malik and Corrie has compounded the restoration challenge.

‘As a result, we are advising customers that while expected restoration of customer supplies from Storm Malik remains Tuesday evening, restoration times for some of those impacted by Storm Corrie may now extend to Wednesday.’

Mr Gough apologised to those affected, stressing that ‘all available resources have been deployed to support with restoration efforts’.

He insisted: ‘Our teams are doing all they can to restore power as quickly as possible, where it is safe to do so.’

SSEN teams have been out since first light to try to assess the damage and restore power as quickly as possible.

The main areas which continue to be affected are rural Aberdeenshire and the Angus border, with customers also off supply in Perthshire, the Highlands, Western Isles and the Moray coast, the utility provider added.

This morning, the network told BBC Scotland that around 30,000 customers across Scotland had been left without electricity following Corrie last night – in addition to around 7,000 still without power following Malik. 

Rural Aberdeenshire is among the hardest-hit areas and some customers in Angus, the Highlands, the Moray coast and Perthshire were still waiting for supplies to be restored.

Durham County Council, which offered free hot food and drinks to households who were without power, had teams out clearing blocked roads, footpaths and debris.

ScotRail said it withdrew all of its services last night in an effort to ‘protect passengers and railway staff’.

Network Rail Scotland, which said that ‘all parts of the railway are working together’, added that any other trains that ran last night had a maximum speed of 40mph. 

Kelly Whittington, director of property and speciality claims at insurance firm Aviva, said the company saw an increase of around 220 per cent in telephone calls and online claim notifications after Malik compared to a normal weekend. She added that it was closely monitoring the situation regarding Corrie.

Most claims were said to have come from people whose properties were affected by the strong winds, which left loose roof tiles, broken windows and damage caused by fallen trees.