LONDON – Britain suffered power outages and travel disruption Wednesday,with flights delayed because of brief runway closures as adverse weatherswamped the country.
More than 73,000 homes were left without power in central and southernEnglish regions through the morning, due to snow and high winds.
Western Power Distribution – serving 7.8 million customers in western andcentral England and Wales – said 52,705 households had been restored by 4pmlocal time, with another 1,500 to be back by midnight.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, covering some of the otherareas impacted, said it had restored power to 17,100 customers bylunchtime.
Another 1,800 remained without electricity by the evening.
Meanwhile Stansted Airport, serving predominantly low-cost carriers likeRyanair and easyJet, twice temporarily shut its runway due to”adverse weather conditions”.
“Incoming and departing flights have been disrupted, with some flightscancelled,” a spokeswoman told AFP.
Flights were also cancelled or delayed at Luton Airport – also a hub forbudget airlines just north of London – after aircraft needed de-icing. Theairport restricted plane numbers to prevent congestion on the ground, aspokesman said.
Large parts of Britain experienced at least some snowfall Wednesday,alongside near-freezing temperatures and gusty winds. Wales, westernEngland and Scotland saw the worst of the weather.
Sennybridge in Powys, Mid Wales, recorded the largest snow total with sixcentimeters (2.4 inches), the Met Office, Britain’s weather service,reported.
On the roads, a spate of accidents caused traffic delays, with the main M1motorway along the spine of the country severely impacted by southboundlane closures.
The latest disruption comes just over two weeks after hundreds of schoolswere closed, homes left without power, and airports disrupted by a previousround of snowfall.
Richard Dawson, an engineering professor at Newcastle University whospecializes in climate impact on infrastructure, told AFP Britain suffersfrom “an intermittency issue” in coping with adverse weather.
He explained the country does not receive snow regularly enough to justifythe kind of expenditure needed for a more impressive response to when itdoes, intermittently, occur.
“So I guess the organizations are trying to find a sensible balance,” headded.