Storm Doris blows out power supply
MORE than 30 homes were left without power in a mountain village after Storm Doris brought down a live electricity pole.
The overhead line in Rhosgadfan, near Caernarfon, was left lying across a road after a tree was uprooted by high winds and knocked down the pole.
No-one was injured when the live line came down, as Scottish Power spokeswoman Jean Holmes said the electricity supply was immediately cut off so as not to pose any danger to the public.
Ms Holmes said: “We’ve had 30 calls which could mean 100 customers who have lost their electricity. We had engineers on site, but the winds were quite high.
“As soon as it is safe to get up the pole, we will put it back up. We would like to apologise to people for any inconvenience.”
As well as cutting electricity to the village, the gale force winds also damaged roofs.
Local resident Dylan Humphreys described how “hurricane winds” had ripped a garage roof off and smashed it on to his father’s house, bringing down slates near to where the electricity pole was felled.
Mr Humphreys said: “The garage roof blew off and landed on the main roof, causing substantial damage to it.
“Part of the garage roof was then blown into a nearby field. Luckily nobody has been hurt. I’ve never seen anything like it. My dad was on holiday at the time. ”
Rhys Jones, 76, said that the main damage happened just before 9am.
“I was sitting inside my house when I heard a terrible noise and then saw the damage,” he explained.
“The garage roof has hit a neighbour’s roof and caused a hole in it by bringing down the slates, which have been scattered all around.”
It is the second time in as many months that severe winds have caused devastation in Rhosgadfan. On December 23 Storm Barbara blew a section of roof off Ysgol Rhosgadfan.
The school, which is still undergoing repairs and closed to pupils, escaped any major damage in the latest storm.
Pupils, who are being taught temporarily at the nearby Mountain Rangers FC function room and at Cae’r Gors educational centre, are expected to return to the school after the Easter holidays.