WITH candles lit, torches at the ready and the TV running on battery power, households in St Ouen were forced to improvise last night after the Island’s most severe weather event since Storm Ciarán knocked out electricity to parts of the parish for hours.
Jersey Electricity this morning said they were still working to restore power to around 300 customers across the Island, but that this number could rise.
Hitting around 5.30pm, long before Storm Goretti’s peak, the outage affected a number of properties in the western parish after Jersey Electricity was forced to shut off power to a damaged line for safety reasons while engineers worked in difficult conditions to make repairs.
As gusts intensified, parish officials moved to reassure residents that support was available if needed.
Deputy Lucy Stephenson shared an update on behalf of the Constable, confirming that the parish hall could be opened as a place of refuge.
She added that Jersey Electricity teams were actively working on the fault.
“A number of properties are currently without electricity after an overhead power line was damaged. Jersey Electricity have now turned off the power to the line for safety reasons and are working on it currently.
“They hope to restore it this evening, however if those affected need anything in the meantime please contact the duty centenier.”
Among those affected was Mike Truscott, who was without power at his St Ouen home from around 5.30pm.
Speaking to the JEP last night, he said he and his wife were making the best of the situation.
“We lost power about 5.30pm and now, past 10.30pm, still without it,” he said.
“We are fortunate to have a coal fire so it’s nice and cosy. We also have numerous candles and torches.”
Food was not an issue, he added, with “fruit and sandwiches” keeping them going, while updates were coming through parish social media channels.
“We can see that various areas have been reconnected due to the great work the JEC workmen are doing in dangerous and testing conditions,” he said.
However, the outage did bring practical challenges.
“As we are on borehole we only have limited water in the tanks which cannot be replenished as the pumps are all electric, which is the same for our hot water system,” Mr Truscott said.
With the house exposed to strong westerly winds from St Ouen’s Bay, the couple passed the time watching Clarkson’s Farm on an iPad – though he admitted to one disappointment: “Unfortunately missed the Arsenal/Liverpool match.”
Constable Richard Honeycombe recalled that there had been issues with an overhead cable that had been “sparking”, but noted the “fantastic effort” from Jersey Electricity which had worked to restore power to affected properties.
He added that a few trees had been brought down and some walls damaged, with “debris everywhere”, and praised the contributions of everyone who had responded to the storm, including parish officials.
“The effort is great,” he added. “As usual, everybody pulled together.”
St Ouen wasn’t the only part of the Island affected – properties in the Maufant area were also hit.
Karen Baudains said that power to her house went out at 10.58pm. “The street light across from Rue du Ponterrin was also out,” she said.
Crews from Jersey Electricity were out this morning to assess damage and are working to restore power where outages have occurred.
A spokesperson for Jersey Electricity said: “We currently estimate that around 300 customers are without power across 31 incidents, although this number may rise as inspections continue and further overnight faults are reported by customers.”
They added that their teams were “doing everything we can to help those impacted as quickly and safely as possible”.
The utility company urged Islanders to stay well clear of any damaged power infrastructure and to report electrical hazards immediately by calling its emergency line on 505050, as repair work continues following the storm.
Vulnerable customers without power are asked to contact JEC’s Customer Care team on 505460.
