The company said there has been substantial damage to some of its poles and overhead wires, and a number of its green roadside cabinets are currently without power. Hundreds of faults have been reported and Openreach expects that number to increase throughout the day (Friday 18th February).
A spokesperson explained, “As always, the safety of our people and the general public remains our number one priority so, in red warning areas, we’d advised our people to stay inside during the storm. But as the storm eases and warnings reduce, our engineers are now starting to assess the damage and restore connections where it’s safe to do so.
“Our teams will be working throughout the weekend so we’ll get all of our customers reconnected as quickly as possible, but it won’t be easy. Some services will take longer to fix than others, especially if they require road closures, specialist equipment or safety measures, so we thank everyone in advance for their patience and understanding.
“For customers and the public, we would advise that if your phone or broadband stops working, and if you have a mobile phone signal, please call your service provider (the company you pay your bill to) and let them know by reporting a fault.
“This is important so we can get an accurate picture of where the disruption is and whether it’s affecting our network or equipment provided by others. That in turn will lead to a quicker fix.”
Openreach has said that if you spot one of its poles down or overhead wires hanging dangerously low, or any damage to the network, you can report this directly to Openreach here and via the freephone number 0800 023 2023 (where you then need to select option 1).
The above picture was taken by Openreach engineers at Tedburn St Mary in Devon, showing trees blown down across overhead lines.