Storm Malik Sunday 30 January
Agencies across the region are continuing to work together to support residents who are still without power following Storm Malik on Friday evening.
Northumberland County Council and Northumberland Fire & Rescue Service have been working alongside Northern Powergrid, Northumbria Police and local communities to co-ordinate efforts to ensure public safety and that the county’s most vulnerable residents are cared for.
Northern Powergrid has drafted in extra support staff from other areas and is continuing its major restoration efforts after Storm Malik devasted part of its electricity network. Across the whole of the northern region an estimated 50,000 houses were left without power and while the storm was not as severe as Arwen, the damage has been worse than first thought.
In Northumberland today (Sunday 30th January 6pm), just over 3,000 homes remain without power. The majority of these are in the north and south-west of the county. The Kielder and Bellingham area has been particularly affected, with further pockets of outage across the county including around Rothbury, Humshaugh, Shilbottle, Longhorsley and Longhoughton.
Welfare support for those without electricity
Welfare checks have continued today to ensure all known vulnerable residents and care homes who are without power have the support they need.
Northumberland County Council is liaising with local communities and Northern Powergrid to make available locations for the provision of hot food and drink, a warm place to meet and electrical charging facilities.
The most up to date information from Northern Powergrid at the time of publication is:
Allendale – hot food is available in Allendale Market Place
Kielder Northern Powergrid customer support vehicle is in Kielder. These have microwaves and charging points and are offering coffee and snacks.
The Street Diner has been serving hot meals, drinks and snacks since 9am this morning. It is situated at Kielder Post Office, NE48 1EQ
Longhoughton Community Centre will be up and running in the morning
Powburn Northern Powergrid customer support vehicle is present
Wooler – Fish and chips will be available on South Road, Wooler, NE71 6SN from 4pm tonight if the power supply in the area remains down. This will also serve the outlying villages.
We will be constantly reassessing the requirement for community support hubs as power is reconnected.
Financial Assistance
Northern Powergrid will pay reasonable costs for food of up to £15 per person per meal, and anyone not reconnected by 14:00 today, it will pay the reasonable costs for alternative accommodation. Further information about this can be found here > PLEASE CAN THIS LINK BE SHARED WITH RESIDENTS WHERE APPROPRIATE
NPG ask that residents retain receipts and send them in an e-mail including an outline of what you would like to claim to stormmalikclaims@northernpowergrid.com.
Active Northumberland is opening up its sports and leisure centres to members of the community who are still without power who may wish to seek some refuge while work continues to reconnect their homes.
The centres are offering access to hot showers, changing facilities, the opportunity to get a hot drink in centres with café facilities, and charge up mobile phones, during opening hours.
A yellow weather warning has been issued for Storm Corrie, which is set to hit the northeast later today with high winds of up to 60mph set to peak between 10pm-5am.
Yesterday, county council staff worked hard to keep roads open by clearing trees and debris and to assess structural damage to buildings. This operational work will continue over the coming days.
A dedicated email has been set up to enable councillors a direct link to the incident room at West Hartford that is helping to coordinate the county support effort- stormmalik@northumberland.gov.uk
Northern Powergrid is directing residents to their website – northernpowergrid.com - to receive updates and report a power cut and it has teams available 24/7 by calling 105.
For concerns about vulnerable residents or safeguarding issues call: Onecall 01670 536400
For all other council service enquiries or reports, ring Northumberland County Council on 0345 600 6400
If you need to report a non-urgent issue to Northumbria Police, please do so by using the 'Tell Us Something' page of their website.
In an emergency, always ring 999.
