AROUND 40,000 people were left without power after Wednesday’s storm.

Northern Powergrid, the company responsible for running the power network across the North-East, and Yorkshire, said the weather caused damage to the overhead electricity network and hit customers in parts of North Yorkshire, County Durham, Tyne and Wear and Northumberland with the storm peaking between 3pm and 4pm.

Electricity supplies were diverted through alternative routes on the network to restore power to as many customers as possible while engineers worked to repair the damage.

A Northern Powergrid spokeswoman said: “By around 7pm this evening we had successfully restored power for 32,500 of our customers. Our engineers are continuing their work to restore the remaining 7,500 customers still affected.

“We’re sorry for the inconvenience caused to our customers as a result of the storm damaging our network and we thank them for their patience while our team works hard to carry out the necessary repairs.”

Additional customer advisors have been drafted into Northern Powergrid’s 24-hour contact centre.

The company said customers could visit its website, northernpowergrid.com, or find out the latest situation on Twitter by looking for @northpowergrid or visit its Facebook pages.

Anyone who spots damaged cables or equipment is urged not to approach the area and contact Northern Powergrid on its 24-hour power cut enquiry numbers, 0800 66 88 77 in the North-East and 0800 375 675 in Yorkshire.