Goathland Resident Describes Power and Water Outages During Storm Darragh as “Isolating”

A restaurant proprietor in a village that experienced power and water outages during Storm Darragh characterized the situation as “really isolating” for its residents. In Goathland, water and electricity services ceased around mid-afternoon on Saturday. Electrical power was not reinstated until approximately 22:00 GMT, and water service remained unavailable until about 16:00 GMT on Sunday. Cecily Fearnley, 38, who co-owns the Homestead Kitchen restaurant and holiday cottage, stated that residents perceived a lack of “no contingency plan in place” to assist them. Northern Powergrid indicated that individuals who experienced power loss for more than 24 hours received “support”. Concurrently, Yorkshire Water expressed gratitude to its customers for their “patience and understanding”. Ms Fearnley noted that during her 30 years residing in Goathland, while there had been “the odd power cut”, she had never encountered “nothing this bad” previously. She explained that when power outages occurred, Goathland residents simultaneously lost mobile phone service, and landline telephones requiring power also became inoperable. Ms Fearnley, who has operated the restaurant and holiday lodging alongside her partner Peter Neville for three years, described it as “a scary thought to be completely cut off”. She added, “There are also a lot of elderly people who live alone and may not have mobiles, so it is isolating for the community and village who couldn’t use their landlines.” “There seems to be no contingency plan in place for power failures in rural communities such as ours,” she asserted. Ms Fearnley further expressed that it was “scary having no water and we’re worried about being cut off again in the future”. The restaurant owner commented, “Having to shut over the weekend was crippling as it is so close to Christmas.” “We had Christmas parties and Sunday lunches booked, so it was a big hit to take financially,” she elaborated. She also stated, “We should not have been without water that long as we could have reopened sooner if the water was on.” Ms Fearnley concluded that it had been “a really exhausting weekend and we just want to make sure we’re not cut off like this again”. “We need help with future-proofing us here,” she urged. Northern Powergrid, the electricity distributor, reported that approximately 120,000 power outages affected around 80,000 of its customers over the weekend, attributed to the torrential rain and strong winds brought by Storm Darragh. A company spokesperson informed the BBC that power had now been reconnected for approximately 372 customers in the Goathland vicinity. They added that those who remained without electricity for over 24 hours received “support including contributions to overnight accommodation”. A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water stated that the severe weather conditions over the weekend had impacted the Randymere reservoir pumping station nearby, leading to an interruption of water supply for certain properties in Goathland. They further explained, “While power was restored to some properties on Saturday evening, power was not restored to Randymere reservoir until Sunday evening.” “We know how inconvenient issues like this can be and thank customers for their patience and understanding,” the spokesperson concluded. Storm Darragh led to widespread disruption throughout Yorkshire, impacting transportation and resulting in event cancellations. On Saturday, wind gusts exceeding 50mph (80km/h) were registered at Topcliffe, near Ripon, and Leeming, with numerous roads experiencing adverse effects.