Wednesday 1 November - 4pm

Storm Ciarán is expected to bring strong winds and heavy rain today and tomorrow, particularly in South West England and South Wales. We have put a range of measures in place to ensure that we’re ready to deal with potential power cuts.

South West England: Drier conditions will continue until the early evening when very strong, potentially damaging, southerly or south-easterly winds and heavy rain will move in from the South West in association with Storm Ciaran. The rain will fall heaviest overnight and gusts are expected to peak at 70-80mph, this most likely along coastal areas. A few exposed coastal spots may see gusts of 85mph at times. Inland, gusts of 65-75mph are possible.

South Wales:  It will remain mostly dry until later in the evening when very strong southerly or south-easterly winds and heavy rain will move in from the South West in association with Storm Ciaran. The rain will fall heaviest overnight and gusts will likely peak at 50-55mph. The very far west of West Wales may see gusts of up to 55-65mph along the coasts at times.

We will provide our next update tomorrow morning.

If you have a power cut you can visit our power cut  information pages or call 105.  

We’re prepared 

Preparations will be in place so that, whatever the weather, we can work to restore power supplies quickly and safely for you if they are disrupted. In particular, we have:

• Additional operational and engineering staff ready and on stand-by to respond to any network issues.
• Additional Contact and control Centre operatives available to manage the electricity network and to help customers with their enquiries.
• Put arrangements in place to open offices early as required.
• Preparations to operate 24/7 in support of operational field staff (e.g. IT, communications).
• Home workers are available to assist throughout the business and ramp up rooms are on standby to open if necessary.
• Helicopters available to fly and identify badly affected areas to hasten repairs if safe to do so from first light.
• Planned work will be cancelled as appropriate.
• Regular updates will be published online and on social media to keep customers updated on the latest situation.
• Arrangements in place to open offices early as required

Tips on how you can prepare in case of a power cut 

We have some useful tips that you may find helpful to help you prepare for periods of unsettled weather:

1. Keep our telephone number handy or save it in your mobile phone (105 or 0800 6783 105) so that you can report a power cut or call for information and advice.
2. Keep a battery/solar charger handy so that you can recharge your smart phone or tablet and follow updates on social media, our online power cut map or Power Cut Reporter app.
3. Keep your freezer shut – depending on the type of freezer you have, the contents could stay frozen for up to 12 hours.
4. Check that you have a phone available that will work in a power cut – digital or cordless ones may not work.
5. Have things like a torch or lantern ready (it is best not to use candles or paraffin lights).
6. Protect sensitive electrical equipment such as computers with a surge protector plug.
7. If you have a mains operated stair lift, check to see if there is a manual release handle that can be used to return it safely to ground level if it stops working.

Additional information

If you experience a power cut or spot anything dangerous which may affect the electricity network, please contact us anytime by:

Phone: 105 or 0800 6783 105

Twitter: @gridcustomersuk

Webchat: www.nationalgrid.co.uk

All of our contact details can be found here.

For our most vulnerable customers, we also provide additional support during a power cut. Click here for more information about our Priority Services Register.