THOUSANDS of residents stranded without power across the area following the weekend's storms say they have been kept in the dark by United Utilities, reports Caroline Beamish.

They claim that the company did not supply them with realistic estimates of when electricity supplies would return after Friday night's near hurricane force winds left, at one point, more than 70,000 homes across Cumbria without electricity.

Yesterday (Thursday) hundreds of homes in South Lakeland were still without power with some people forced to live by candlelight throughout the week.

But while teams of engineers from United Utilities worked round the clock to reinstate supplies, a feeling of anger was growing in communities enduring an information blackout.

Jim Hughes, of Ashleigh Road, Kendal, lost power at around midnight last Friday. Repeated attempts to contact United Utilities by telephone to find out when his power would be restored proved fruitless, forcing him to visit the company's offices on Parkside Road.

"A woman took my name, address and telephone number and said that someone would get back to me but I've still heard nothing. People are being told to get in touch with them via the Internet but how can we do that if we've got no power," he said Crook resident Linda Wilkinson, who lost both electricity and water supplies, added: "People are extremely angry. We understand the severity of the problem but it is the lack of information for paying customers that is not good enough.

"Had we been told the power would be off for a prolonged period people could have arranged for somewhere to stay or to take the contents of their freezer to friends and relatives' houses."

United Utilities has now extended an apology (see Page 9) to customers, insisting it has in no way deliberately misled anyone.

The company's Mark Donaghy said 400 engineers from Inverness, Ireland and Cornwall as well as elsewhere in the North West had been drafted in to help repair the damage but the bad weather at the start of the week hampered the operation.

However, community spirit was much in evidence as residents pulled together to ensure those without heat, light and cooking facilities coped. For the residents of one row of cottages in Crook, near Kendal, the shut down brought them closer than ever.

"I'm the only one lucky enough to have a gas stove and coal fire," said Susie Allen, who has lived in her cottage for six years.

"Everyone else is on electric so I have been doing all the cooking so everyone has had a hot meal and a warm cup of tea in the morning."

In the aftermath of the worst floods on record in Appleby, the town council praised the efforts of the emergency services and hailed the community's remarkable spirit.

Councillors made special mention of those who were willing to get themselves drenched while helping to evacuate others in the worst hit areas.

Appleby mayor Frank Harland also nominated five Appleby Grammar School pupils who held an impromptu coffee morning on Saturday morning for good citizen awards. Jay-Jay Iveson, Sarah Fitton, Amy Fitton, Aimie Good and Dean Cape provided hot drinks for residents evacuated from houses in Chapel Street and the surrounding area.

Renewed calls for extra flood protection came from residents on Mintsfeet Road, Silverdale Drive, Lowther Park and Calder Drive in Kendal.

Residents of Windermere Road, Grange-over-Sands, also stressed the importance of a flood relief scheme to protect their properties after fire-fighters saved ten homes from flooding on Friday night.

Business owners not only faced the arduous task of repair and clean up work but also the prospect of greatly increased insurance premiums.

William Stocker, director of Webbs Garden Centre, at Burneside Road, Kendal, now expects his premium to rise significantly after an insurance assessor told him a mini-vortex, or whirlwind, had ripped through the main greenhouse, destroying the structure and thousands of pounds of stock.

He was forced to call in a demolition team and expects the centre to remain closed until late January.

Jim Johnson of Westmorland Packaging on Minstfeet Industrial Estate, said extortionate insurance premiums brought by repeated flooding could now only be avoided if action was taken by the Environment Agency. The extra costs put a question mark over the future of businesses in the town, he said.

A countywide review will now be conducted by the Environment Agency to assess and prioritise flood defences and protection to prevent a repeat of the storm and flood damage.