Power finally restored to community 'cut off' by storm

Jim Webber went without power for five days and relied on a welfare van for hot food and drink

Power has finally been restored to homes left "cut off" for days after Storm Darragh hit the UK.

Residents in Porlock Weir, Somerset, say they have had to bin hundreds of pounds worth of food and their Christmas plans have "gone up in smoke" after their supply was cut off for five days.

"We've chucked everything out of the freezers, it's all gone bad," resident Jim Webber told the BBC, after he went without electricity and gas for five days.

The National Grid said the vast majority of homes in Somerset now have their power restored, but there are still some areas facing outages.

"It's easily £300 worth because we bought stuff for Christmas, so that's all gone," Mr Webber added.

Welfare vans have been handing out hot food and drink to residents in Porlock Weir, and Chard, who "couldn't get a hot meal".

"It's been very difficult, its very cold," Mr Webber added.

"We're in an old thatched cottage, we've had no heating bar one small wood burner, and nothing to cook with, no hot water, nothing."

Fiona and Tom Meek have also had to make do after their power was cut off on Saturday

Residents in Vellow, near Williton, are also only just getting their power restored after they were also cut off on Saturday.

"It's been pretty awful," Fiona Meek told BBC Radio Somerset.

"We've got lots of vulnerable people in Vellow and one chap is very sick, friends have managed to get him a generator.

"If we had known it was going to take so long, we would have emptied the freezer, put the food somewhere.

"You can't contact people, your phone doesn't work, people are worried about you.

"It's just been horrible."

'Working around the clock'

A National Grid Electricity Distribution spokesman said: "The vast majority of customers who lost power as a result of the storm have now been restored.

"There are some pockets where small numbers of customers remain without power, and we have teams working around the clock to get them restored as soon as possible."

The National Grid said it is collating information about all the power outages experienced during the storm period, to "assess eligibility for customer guarantee payments under the Standards of Performance."

"This normally takes 10 working days," they said.

"However, this process may take longer during due to the impact of the storm and the number of customers affected."