After a long dry summer, autumn broke with a vengeance visiting upon us winds and rain reminiscent of storms 30 years ago. According to the EDP, some 200 trees were brought down by the winds this Friday 25 September around Norfolk. One such tree was in Aylsham Road, Tuttington which took out the overhead power cables plunging the village into darkness.
As everyone went scrabbling around for those pesky candles under the stairs or stumbling in the garage (I must take that rubbish to the dump) for that fancy LED lantern they bought for just this sort of occasion, the Aylsham Linemen – they should write a song about that – rolled in.
After a few hours of hazardous work in wind, rain and darkness, the brave folk of UK Power Networks restored heat and light late in the evening. We should all thank them for their rapid response and hard work in very difficult conditions given the number of power cuts across our region. But, it turns out things were not quite as they seemed. Only some of the village properties had their power restored with much of Aylsham Road still in the dark. Let’s hope the candles don’t run out in Tuttington before the power is switched back on.
And, as Friday blows into Saturday we still have the rain and wind to contend with not to mention the hazardous tree debris littering the roads.
So as the Duty Sergeant said in Hill Street Blues after his morning briefing: “Let’s be careful out there…”
Thanks to Ruth for the photos.