It took a very long time for the media to catch up with the fact that tens of thousands of households in North England and Scotland were without power. Yes it was a bad storm, heavy snow combined with a freezing northerly gale which turned the snow to thick, solid ice. But not unique. A similar storm in the 90s collapsed the entire roof of our big commercial glasshouses.
The powergrid engineers have worked their socks off, but not helped by the lack of investment in the infrastructure for decades. We are hearing stories of rotten poles and obsolete equipment 40-50 years old, for which replacements are not available, so needing a complete re-build. Trees near lines not being cut back as regularly as they used to, and so on.
That's no lights, no heating, no cooking, no way of keeping fridge or freezer cold, no internet, no mobile phone connection (no power to the mast), often no landline as BT is trying to get rid of them, very poor FM reception on the battery radio, for some no water, even the waste water treament systems use electric!
We were without electric for 6 days and nights. About 10 years ago we invested in a back-up generator so could run that for an hour or so two or three times a day, enough for light and to protect the fridge and freezer. We could use a kettle, microwave, small heater, but not all at once! We checked on a few neighbours and thought we could do fine. By the second day we needed more fuel for the genny. It was still snowing, and the roads were poor, so the Defender was fired up. But petrol pumps do not work without electric, so that was a 40 mile round trip to the nearest pumps. And pay cash as the card machines don't work. No receipt as the tills weren't working. (At this stage we were not thinking of needing receipts for compensation). Then it was a daily trip for fuel... Shops all shut, and food in their fridges and freezers thrown out.
What has made folks so angry is the lack of information.
Powergrid were posting on social media and sending e-mails to people who had no way of accessing them. With false information. There was absolutely no contingency planning to look after customers. We all felt toatally abandoned. Other than neighbours, the first check on our welfare was after 5 days! They tried to pursuade people to stay with friends or book into a hotel, but leaving a rural property is not that simple. A friend walked up to tell us that a burger and hot dog van was in the village. We wouldn't have known otherwise, even though we walked into the village every day.
We have become so dependent on electric and communications.
Some of my neighbours are still without power and going into a twelth night.....
