Storm Eunice: Hundreds still without power in South East after storms

Power lines in Ightham in Kent were brought down during Storm Eunice on Friday

Hundreds of homes across the South East are still without power after Storms Eunice and Franklin.

UK Power Networks said 230 homes were affected across Sussex and 190 in Kent.

Water supplies to some properties have also been disrupted because of power cuts at treatment and pumping centres, with East Grinstead in West Sussex particularly affected.

UK Power Networks said it hoped to have all customers reconnected by Friday.

In a statement at midday on Thursday, the firm said: "Engineers last night finished restoring supplies to customers who lost power during Storm Eunice last Friday, with a few isolated exceptions.

"Today (Thursday), our priority is reconnecting power supplies to any remaining customers cut off by Storm Franklin, which further damaged our networks on Sunday and Monday. We expect to reconnect most of these power supplies today."

The company apologised for the disruption, saying it was "working hard to restore normal services".

The statement added: "Due to the scale of the damage from the storms it has proved very difficult to estimate when individual customers would be back on."

A spokesman said 160 properties were still without power in East Sussex, 70 in West Sussex, 190 in Kent, while six homes in east Surrey had no electricity.

'Waited in vain'

Hilary Newman, from Litlington, near Seaford, East Sussex, said she had been without power since Monday.

Mrs Newman, 80, said: "It is impossible to get accurate information. I was told that it would be restored on Wednesday at 4pm.

"This did not happen so I waited in vain. I was told that I am not a priority and have now got a new date which is Friday morning."

Ian Cameron, head of customer services, told BBC Radio Kent: "If we fix a fault on the bigger part of the network, we assume those customers then get back on, but there may be further faults down the network.

"If you were off on Friday, please get in contact. We'll prioritise you. Anybody who was off on Saturday and Sunday, we aim to restore by the end of today.

"Anybody off from Monday through to today, we aim to get back to business as usual by the end of play tomorrow."

Water supplies returning

The company said anyone affected by Storm Eunice will be eligible to receive £50 after 24 hours without electricity, an additional £70 after 48 hours, and an additional £70 thereafter for every 12 hours without power.

South East Water said supplies were returning in Forest Row, Ashurst Wood and parts of East Grinstead, as water tanks across the network were refilled.

A spokesman said: "When your water returns, you may notice it is a cloudy white colour, this is caused by excess air in the system and if left to stand, the bubbles will disappear."

The company said several bottled water stations were open in the RH19 postcode.

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