Storm Eunice power outages: 'Red alert status' remains in Sussex

SSEN said it has restored power to more than 120,000 homes, as it 'continues to respond to the impact of Storm Eunice' . Click here to see if there is a power outage in your area:

A spokesperson added: "SSEN remains at red alert status for our central southern England network area as our teams continue to respond to widespread and extensive damage caused by Storm Eunice.

"As of 8.30am today, we have restored power to over 120,000 homes across our operating area, with 59,600 homes currently without supply in parts of Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Dorset."

SSEN said the storm, which is considered to be the worst to impact the South of England in more than 30 years, brought wind gusts of 80mph across its network area and above 120mph on exposed coasts.

"This has resulted in over 1,000 points of damage on our overhead line network, well over 100 times that of an average day, with multiple points of damage caused by fallen and uprooted trees and other wind-borne debris," the SSEN spokesperson said.

"Following ‘switching’ overnight, where we re-configure the network to bypass fault areas and restore power to customers, engineers have been out since first light to assess and complete overhead line repairs.

"This work will continue throughout the day, alongside a continuing assessment of the full extent of network damage via overhead line inspections and helicopter patrols where the weather permits."

SSEN said conditions 'continue to be challenging', with further high winds, blocked roads and access issues.

Restoration timescales

SSEN said that, due to the 'ferocity' of Storm Eunice, it is 'unfortunately not an easy or simple task' to give accurate timescales on the restoration works.

They added: "At this stage, while we continue to make good progress in restoring customer supplies, we are still determining the full extent of damage to our network, and a significant number of local outages are yet to be fully assessed by our operational teams who are working hard in extremely challenging conditions."

The strategy will centre around 'prioritising those critical faults' on the network that will restore the maximum number of customers possible, before working systematically through the rest of the repairs that are 'more localised and dispersed'.

"Following this approach, we expect to reconnect a large number of customers throughout the course of today with the vast majority of customers being restored by the end of the weekend.

"At this stage, we also expect a minority of affected customers, particularly in rural areas or where complex repairs are required, may remain without power into early next week."

If someone is in a highly vulnerable situation, and has no support available, they are asked to contact SSEN on 105: "We will look to assist on a case-by-case basis."

The spokesperson added: "This is a dynamic situation and with a yellow wind warning in place for most of today, is subject to further change.

"As our teams continue to assess the damage, better and more specific information will be provided when available and we thank our customers for their continued patience as we work to restore power."

'We continue to urge people not to approach any damage to our equipment'

Richard Gough, director of distribution system operations, said the 'hurricane-force winds' of Storm Eunice have resulted in 'some of the most extreme and challenging conditions experienced in the south of England for decades'.

He added: “Our teams continue to work hard in very challenging conditions to restore power as quickly and as safely as possible with good progress made since winds subsided yesterday evening.

"We expect to make continued good progress today, but restoration efforts will be extensive and, as we continue to uncover further damage, we expect the restoration of some localised faults to extend into early next week.

“We apologise to our customers for the continued disruption and reassure them that we are making every effort to restore their power, while giving them the best available information in order to make informed choices. We are also prioritising support for our most vulnerable customers, working closely with our local resilience partners.

“We continue to urge people not to approach any damage to our equipment and instead, report it by calling 105 or logging on our Power Track App and engineers will investigate as soon as possible.”

Welfare provision

Welfare facilities have been established in Wisborough Green, West Sussex (RH14 OBZ) to provide free hot food and drinks to customers who remain off supply, with additional welfare facilities to be deployed throughout the course of today to areas which continue to be impacted.

SSEN said customers will be eligible for compensation under Guaranteed Standards if they have been with power for more than 48 hours. They will be eligible for a payment of £70. A further £70 will be due for each additional period of 12 hours in which supply is not restored, up to a cap of £700.

"Customers do not need to contact us to receive this compensation," SSEN said. "We will automatically issue this by cheque to the address that was impacted by the storms based on the data we hold.

"We will send a letter where this information is incomplete."