1,000 homes hit by power cut in big chill

Jan 10 2010 Sunday Sun

AROUND 1,000 North homes were left without power in the coldest temperatures recorded in the country after a flock of geese flew into an overhead power line.

Homeowners in Brampton, Cumbria, suffered the power loss after migrating geese collided with the lines between Spadeadam and Capontree at 7.30am yesterday.

It is thought that the extreme cold temperatures forced the geese, which normally fly thousands of feet up, to fly lower.

Fortunately, power to 600 homes was restored within the hour after the electricity company United Utilities rerouted supplies.

A United Utilities spokesman said: “We’ve had reports that geese flew into the line and we’re investigating if a section of cable has come down into a field.”

The temperature plummeted to minus 14C in Carlisle on Friday night but had risen to minus 4.2C at Spadeadam by 8am yesterday.

United Utilities worked throughout the morning to reconnect the remaining 400 homes still without electricity in the Brampton area and it was hoped all supplies would be back on by last night.

Elsewhere across the region, snow and ice took its toll again, with transport disrupted and sports fixtures called off . . . and weather forecasters said there was no early thaw in sight.

Police launched an appeal for keen mountain walker Steven Bailey, 51, who went missing in the Lake District.

Mr Bailey, from Ambleside, Cumbria, was last seen on Tuesday in Windermere but has not been seen or heard from since.

Meanwhile, the North Yorkshire Ambulance Service was assisted by the Coastguard when one of its emergency vehicles got stuck in heavy snow.

The ambulance got stranded at Egton in the Esk Valley on the North Yorkshire Moors around 9.15pm on Friday, as it tried to reach a patient suffering from dehydration in Grosmont.

A Coastguard rescue vehicle picked up the ambulance crew at Egton and took them to the patient’s house, then returned the paramedics and patient back to the snowed-in ambulance before escorting it to Whitby Hospital.

Police and mountain rescue officers also had to trek for an hour through driving snow to reach a group of five experienced walkers stranded in blizzard conditions.