60mph winds keep NIE customers in the dark

SEVERE weather conditions left thousands of local householders in the dark over the weekend.

Over 2,000 customers in the Stranocum, Dervock and Farran Road areas were without electricity on Friday evening due to 60mph winds.

However thanks to the NIE emergency repairs teams over 1,000 residents had their power restored within two hours.

Speaking to the Times, Natasha McGee, Northern Ireland Electricity Customer Relations Manager for the area explained: “Winds of nearly 60 mph affected the electricity network in the East of Northern Ireland on Friday night and Saturday morning.

“In the Ballymoney area, the severe weather caused two faults which affected customers in the Stranocum, Dervock and Farran Road areas.

“The fault in Stranocum and Dervock happened at 20.46 on Friday evening and left 2080 customers without electricity. NIE emergency repair teams responded immediately and over 1,000 customers had power restored in around 2 hours and the remaining customers had electricity supplies back by 04.13 on Saturday morning.

“The strong winds hampered efforts as, for safety reasons, linesmen had to wait for several hours before they could climb the poles to carry out repairs.”

She added: “In a separate incident, an electricity pole was blown down in the Farran Road area of Ballymoney at 03.54 on Saturday morning. A new pole and stay wire were erected and the 77 affected customers had electricity supplies back by 14.10.”