Wales weather: Power restored after 109mph storms

Power has been restored to all homes and businesses in north Wales which suffered cuts in supply following the Boxing Day gales.

With Anglesey and Gwynedd hardest hit, ScottishPower had reconnected more than 20,000 properties by Saturday evening.

A "very small pocket" of properties which remained cut off on Sunday had power restored by late afternoon.

Meanwhile the Met Office has issued a yellow alert for heavy rain heading for Wales on Monday.

Natural Resources Wales warned people to be watch out for localised flooding on Monday, although on Sunday evening only one flood alert was in place, for rivers in south Pembrokeshire.

Road problems

The high winds had caused a string of incidents of structural damage, including slates falling into the Maes in Caernarfon and in Bangor High Street.

In south west Wales fire crews had been called out to a number of towns in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire to deal with falling slates and chimney stacks.

Council workers across Wales spent much of Friday and Saturday clearing fallen trees from roads.

In Gwynedd, the B4573 was still closed in both directions between Harlech and Tygwyn on Sunday because of a fallen tree and power cables but there were no other major travel disruptions in the county.

Ice on the roads was a problem in south Wales on Sunday morning, with fire crews dealing with a number of minor collisions.

Arriva Trains Wales had a replacement bus operating between Harlech and Pwllheli after river bridge was damaged at Llandecwyn.

On Sunday afternoon the electricity supplier ScottishPower said it had restored power to all customers affected by cuts due to high winds bringing down cables.

A spokesman said: "ScottishPower have made good progress to reconnect the last remaining customers who lost electricity supplies during the storm force weather on Friday in north Wales.

"All customers have now been reconnected.

"ScottishPower engineers worked in extreme conditions to reconnect supplies as quickly as possible.

"ScottishPower would like to thank everyone affected for their patience during this period."

Aberdaron on the Llyn Peninsula had been one of the worst affected places.

Gareth Roberts, a Gwynedd county councillor for the area, said: "Overall, it could have been a lot worse.

"We're used to electricity cuts around here - it's not unusual because we are so exposed.

"A day without electricity is no real hardship, but when you go into two or three days, and it starts to affect peoples' freezers and so on, it becomes a bit tedious.

"I think people have realised that the emergency workers are working flat out to get things sorted.

"You have to take your hat off to people who go out in that kind of weather to get the power back on."

As residents saw electricity supplies restored, the Met Office issued a yellow alert ahead of heavy rain and wind on Monday, with Wales, south west England and Scotland predicted to be the worst affected areas of the UK.

Heavy rain is expected to spread across south Wales and south west England on Sunday night into Monday morning.

Winds of 60 to 70mph are likely in Wales, and up to 80mph in exposed parts of west Wales.

"With ground already saturated over much of this region, the public should be aware of the risk of further local flooding," the Met Office said.