MORE than 1,000 homes were left without electricity after a power line was damaged in the squally weather conditions of Saturday afternoon.

High voltage cables were brought down in a field near the Romsey to Chandler’s Ford railway line at Crampmoor and train services were suspended between the two stations while engineers tried to repair the cables.

Romsey firefighters were also on standby at the scene in case the pole and cables caught fire.

Southern Electric say supplies were lost to just over 1,000 homes in the Ampfield, Braishfield, Crampmoor, Hursley, Otterbourne and Chander’s Ford areas shortly after 4pm.

Power was restored to most homes by 1am the next day. However, 77 properties were still affected on Sunday morning. Engineers were called out again on Sunday afternoon when supplies went down again because of a further fault.

Some customers were still without power this morning (Monday) but a Southern Electric spokesperson said all homes should be reconnected to the main supply network by 6pm today (Monday).

The electricity company drafted in emergency generators while engineers were working to reconnect power to homes left without supplies. One retired woman who did not wish to be named said: “We were given mixed messages about when the power was coming back on. We kept being given different times when we checked Southern Electric’s automated phone messages. It’s not good enough in this day and age.

“Someone from Southern Electric should have come round and let us know what was going on. We were left without any heating.We (my husband and I) had to huddle together in the kitchen to keep warm by the gas Aga.”