FOLLOWING Met Office warnings for strong winds across Yorkshire and other parts of the northern Britian, Northern Powergrid, which delivers electricity to homes and businesses across the region, is assuring its customers that it is prepared should Storm Gertrude affect its network.

The weather is expected to hit tomorrow between 3am and 6pm.  Wind speeds of between 70 and 80mph have been forecast for parts of North, West and South Yorkshire, County Durham, Tyne and Wear and Northumberland.

Rod Gardner, Northern Powergrid’s head of network operations, said: “We’re closely monitoring the weather and have extra engineers prepared to restore power and repair any damage to our network caused by Storm Gertrude.

“We have additional advisors at our local 24-hour contact centre as well as teams in other locations around our business who are ready to offer our customers support and advice. 

“Our website, northernpowergrid.com, has an easy-to-use power cut reporting service which our customers can use to log a power cut and get updates. We are also encouraging customers to take a few minutes to bookmark our website on their mobile phone so they are ready to use the service if they need it.”

Northern Powergrid’s 24/7 Twitter (@northpowergrid) and Facebook pages will also provide regular updates and advice to customers and local communities.

The electricity distribution company, which manages a network of 61,000 substations and more than 91,000km of overhead power lines and underground cables, will deploy all available resources as necessary to deal with any damage caused.

Customers with a disability, medical condition or very young families, who may need greater assistance during a power cut and have signed up to the company’s Priority Services Register, will be kept updated as a priority. Anyone interested in joining the Priority Services Register can sign up online via Northern Powergrid’s website or call 0800 169 2996.

Further strong winds are expected on Monday.