‘Power cut left us freezing for days’
VILLAGERS’ ORDEAL AS STORM ARWEN SWEPT THROUGH REGION
A GRANDMOTHER said she was left freezing for an ‘eternity’ after Storm Arwen swept through her village and left her without power for 80 hours.
Lesley Rattigan’s semi-detached home was one of more than 30,000 households that went through four nights without power in what has been described as the worst mass outage in decades.
The 66-year-old said she had never experienced anything like it in the nine years she had lived in Kirkburton, near Huddersfield.
As a blanket of snow covered much of Yorkshire at the weekend, Lesley, a widow, said the sub-zero conditions left her unable to sleep.
She woke up early on Saturday shaking and was unable to get through to Northern Powergrid.
After three nights without electricity or heating, she was finally able to enjoy some warmth on Monday afternoon.
Lesley said: “I woke up and I was freezing, it was snowing and I had no heating or light. It felt like an eternity had passed and it just kept getting colder and colder.
“It felt so grim and miserable all day. And then for another day, and another.”
Lesley couldn’t shower at home and had to visit some friends for a hot meal.
The retired teacher added: “I felt like a popsicle and I think I’m going to buy a camping oven because not having any hot water was a horrible experience.”
Lesley said she was literally left in the dark about updates as Norther Powergrid were ‘too busy’ to respond to calls.
But when she eventually got through on the third day of outages, she said she was emotional and ‘teary-eyed.’
She said: “There were messages flying around about the power coming back but it never did.”
Friday’s storm saw severe winds of up to 98mph sweep across the north of the country, mostly affecting Scotland, the North East and parts of Yorkshire.
The grandmother-of-one said: “The storm wasn’t obvious at all.
“I didn’t expect it. I’ve lived here for nine years and had nothing like it.”
She said she was lucky as she had friends who let her take away boiling water in flasks on her journeys throughout the day.
Lesley said: “The people who live on the other side of the semi-detached house left to their in-laws’ because it was too cold for the kids.
“The temperatures are quite dangerous.” Lesley said that when the power came back around midday on Monday, she raced to put the heating on but each time it got windy she started to worry again.
The nearby White Swan pub was forced to throw or give away more than £1,000 worth of food stock which had been ordered for their Christmas service.
Phil Blocksidge, 50, who has owned the pub for four years said: “We had to get rid of everything in our fridges and freezers, and we have wasted about £1,000 in stock.
“We had everything for our Christmas period and we’re going to have to buy everything again.
“I’ve been quite depressed about it because I have to deal with the financial problems it has left us with.”
Phil was preparing for a busy weekend, which included a surprise birthday party for him thrown by his partner.
Despite the devastating losses, Phil donated all the food he could to the Burton Belles women’s institute who cooked up warm meals for those in need.