The weather caused widespread disruption
Thousands of homes around the UK remain without electricity after severe weather disrupted supplies.
Up to 18,000 properties in Northern Ireland, 10,000 in Scotland and 2,000 in Wales have been without power overnight despite efforts by energy firms to reconnect them.
Weather warnings also remain in place across much of the UK after two days of wintery conditions.
Two people are known to have died - one in Lancashire and one in Cornwall.
Numerous roads in many regions became impassable after snow on Friday and Saturday.
For Sunday the Met Office has warned that lying snow in many areas will melt on roads and pavements by day, refreezing by night to give icy patches.
Some places, mainly in eastern England, will continue to get light snow, possibly up to a couple of inches.
Also, snow blowing off fields in strong to gale force winds will affect some roads, especially over high ground, it said.
Ice damageScottish and Southern Energy (SSE) said 7,000 homes were without power the Isle of Arran and on the Kintyre peninsular.
Access was difficult after deep drifts of snow blocked many roads.
SSE said in a statement that "severe ice loading damage" had been found on many of its wood pole lines in Kintyre and on Arran, as well as the collapse of three steel towers under the weight of ice on the conductors near Crossaig in Kintyre.
"Repair of this line is an absolute priority for us although we are currently hampered by the main road being closed due to drifting snow. Snow blowers have been taken in to help and they should make good progress [on Sunday] morning."
Additional generators were sent to Arran when power was lost on Friday.
In Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish Power said it was trying to reconnect power to 3,000 homes overnight.
It also said on Saturday that it was likely some of the 2,000 homes in north Wales - mainly between Llangollen and Corwen in Denbighshire - which had not been reconnected would remain without power overnight.
In Lancashire a man's body was found in deep snow in farmland near Burnley on Saturday afternoon, police said.
It followed the discovery of a woman's body in the debris of her house after a landslip in Looe, Cornwall early on Friday morning.
Emergency callsThe weather disrupted all calls to the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service when power cuts affected the communication network.
During a three-hour period, all 999 calls had to be diverted to Scotland, then details were passed on to Northern Ireland via mobile phone.
John McPoland, from the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, said: "[It was a] very serious incident for us, but the contingency plans have worked well for us.
"We understand maybe 38 calls were taken by Scotland and four diverted to us by mobile phone. They phone us immediately on mobile phone and initially then we are able to use little trunk radios to contact our staff on the road, the operational staff, and there is a slight delay in response to the calls but we don't believe that anybody has missed out so far."
Throughout Saturday a number of roads and airports were shut and many sport fixtures in England were cancelled.
The prolonged cold snap has sparked fears that the UK will run out of stored gas.
However, the National Grid has said there is "plenty of gas available", and the Department of Energy and Climate Change has said gas needs are being met.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét