Thousands without power after hurricane in North

Up to 4,000 people in the North are still without electricity because of Hurricane Gordon.

The 70mph gales caused widespread damage to the electricity network, with more than 126,000 customers affected and about 500 electricity workers battled last night to restore supplies.

A spokesman for Northern Ireland Electricity said: “Around 500 NIE staff including engineering crews, call handlers and contractors continued working through the night restoring power and will continue to do so.

“NIE’s incident centre, which co-ordinates all restoration work, and all twelve NIE local incident centres are working to restore power as soon as possible. It is the full intention to have all customers restored to power today.”

NIE has returned service to 122,000 homes and businesses.

The hurricane is believed to have come from the Atlantic and is linked to warmer conditions.

Temperatures are above average for this time of the year.

Anyone without electricity supplies this morning should contact NIE for updated information on restoration work. The NIE Customer Helpline is 08457 643 643.