A COUNCILLOR said life has been traumatic for local residents in the aftermath of a huge North Yorkshire power cut.

Almost 1,000 properties experienced surges at about 4.30pm on December 1, which blew out televisions, telephones, lights, washing machines, cookers and lamp posts in Cardinals Court, Cawood.

Coun John Cattanach said: “It’s been quite traumatic as initially the Northern Power Grid (NPG) company was telling their engineers that we had to claim on household insurance. All our meters were blown. We’re slowly getting back to normal, but we did have a loss adjuster at our houses on Sunday about an hour after our power was back on giving us replacement phones and speakers.”

Engineers have since been sent to replace the meters and replace circuit boards in washing machines.

A spokeswoman for NPG said properties in Thorpe Willoughby, Hambleton and Selby were affected by the surges, although only a handful of properties in Cawood were affected by a “neutral fault”, which caused some household appliances to overload.