Areas of County Durham hit with unplanned power cuts

Parts of County Durham have been hit with unplanned power cuts.

A number of streets in the Murton and Dawdon areas were hit with power cuts at around 9am on Sunday, with many homes still without power. At around 1pm, a road just north of Hawthorn was also closed after a power cable came down.

It has not been confirmed whether the downed power cable is the cause of the power outages in the area. Northern Powergrid are assessing the situation and Durham Constabulary closed the road where the cable was downed.

• Read more: Holidaying family captures photograph of waterspout off coast of Northumberland
• Keep up to date with all the latest local news from County Durham with our free newsletter

In an earlier statement, Durham Constabulary said: "The B1432 north of Hawthorn is currently closed between Richardsons Garden Centre and the northern most access road to Hawthorn Village due to a downed power cable. Northern Powergrid are currently on scene assessing the situation and the road is likely to remain closed for several hours whilst they make the scene safe."

It is understood that the road has since re-opened. Many homes in County Durham remain powerless, but some have since regained power.

A message on the Northern Powergrid website states: "We’re sorry for any inconvenience this power cut may cause. As this was unplanned, we were unable to give you advanced warning about it. Thanks to the work of our teams, we’ve been able to restore power to some of the customers affected by the power cut. We will continue to work as quickly as possible to get the remaining customers’ power back on."