THOUSANDS of properties remain without power in Cumbria as Electricity North West responds to the aftermath of Storm Isha, with some engineering teams having to stand down because of the wind speed. 

The storm brought wind speeds of up to 80mph, with the electricity provider reporting that fallen trees, branches and debris caused widespread damage across the north-west. 

Engineers are working to restore the remaining 8,500 properties without power in Cumbria and Lancashire. So far, they have restored power to more than 36,000 properties in the two counties. 

According to Electricity North West, conditions are still 'incredibly testing' and in the north Lakes, wind speeds remain high meaning that teams cannot climb up power lines to fix issues. 

Steph Trubshaw, Electricity North West’s customer director, said: “Conditions are some of the worst we’ve seen in a long time and for several hours, we saw wind speeds regularly reach 80mph.  

"Given how severe the weather was, last night, for safety reasons, we made the decision to stand teams down as it was simply too dangerous for engineers to climb. 

"This morning, hundreds of colleagues are going to be assessing damage on the network and where conditions allow, we’ll start to climb to and carry out permanent repairs.” 

A helicopter is being used to help assess damage in some hard-to-reach areas across Cumbria.  

“We understand this is a difficult time for customers and we’ve already made the decision to move restoration times to tomorrow evening until we can get more up to date reports from site and we’ll ensure customers are kept up to date,” said Ms Trubshaw. 

“As always, should any customers see any damage to the network, they should stay clear and report it to us by calling 105.”