Power cut blacks out hundreds
ALMOST 2,000 homes were in complete darkness after a power cut left residents in Hipperholme and Lightcliffe without electricty for over an hour.
The power failure affected 1,795 houses when it struck at 10.20pm on Tuesday night.
The roads were plunged into darkness as street lights and traffic signals failed, including those which control Hipperholme crossroads, leaving drivers facing dangerous driving conditions which were not helped by heavy rain.
While most homes had their power returned after about an hour, 11 houses in Norcliffe Lane went for 12 hours without any power as Yorkshire Electricity Distribution (YEDL) struggled to reconnect the houses to the main grid.
A generator was installed at 10am yesterday morning so that residents were able to get by until the power was fully restored.
A spokesperson for YEDL said: "We received a call at 10.20 saying that homes in the HX3 area had lost power. Our engineers arrived at the sub station at 11.07pm, and the power was restored at 11.20pm.
"Unfortunately, 11 homes in Norcliffe Lane could not be reconnected at that time, so a temporary generator has been installed."
It is thought that the power cut was caused due to a high voltage fault, though a team of engineers hope to shed some light on what caused the black out.
It proved to be a busy night for the emergency services, who dealt with numerous calls as the cut caused alarms to sound across the area.
A spokesman for the fire brigade said: "We were getting a call about every 20 minutes because the power cut caused many house alarms to sound unexpectedly. Thankfully there were no major incidents following the power cut."
Resident Chris Peacock, of Bramley Lane, Hipperholme, said the power cut had come at a bad time.
"It was a big shock when the power when out. My girlfriend and I haven't lived in this house for very long we're still not sure where everything is. At first I thought it was a fuse that had blown, but when I looked outside I saw that the whole street was out."
The White Horse in Lightcliffe was hosting its weekly pub quiz when the power failed.
Ashley Addy, who was in the pub, said: "The lights went off and you could hear alarms outside. The landlord came around with some tea lights and candles so we could continue."
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Weather for Halifax
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 9 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North east
