Update 6pm: Power restored to final North Walsham homes after more than nine hours

By ALEX HURRELL Tuesday, January 22, 2013
5:57 PM

The last homes affected by power cuts in North Walsham have now had their supplies restored, according to a spokesman for UK Power Networks.

The remaining 108 customers, out of an initial 970 affected, had their power restored in stages by 3.20pm.

Power was initially interrupted at 5.45am but was restored to the majority of customers, in stages, by about 8am.

The spokesman said engineers worked as quickly as was safely possible to locate the fault, in the high-voltage network, and return power supplies to normal.

She added: “We realise how uncomfortable it can be to be without power, particularly when it is so cold and would like to reassure our customers that we restored their electricity supplies as soon as we were able to.

We apologise for any inconvenience.”

Among those affected was North Walsham High School which had to close for the day, as it was without electricity and heat, to all students except those taking GCSE biology exams.

Customers without power were centred in the Yarmouth Road and Hall Lane areas of the town but residents in Witton, a few miles out of North Walsham, were also affected.