December 15th 2024.
Martina Mercer and her family have recently endured a difficult and trying time after being left without power for four days following Storm Darragh's destructive path through the UK. As a mother of two, she has described the experience as "mental torture" and a constant source of stress and frustration. Despite being reassured by the National Grid nine times that their power would be restored, Martina and her family were left in the dark and cold for days on end.
Living in Devon with her children and their numerous pets, including dogs, cats, geese, and chickens, Martina received daily automated messages from her power supplier, promising that their electricity would be back up and running within a few hours. However, these messages proved to be false hope as the power outage continued. The situation was made even more challenging as the family had to deal with a burst pipe that flooded their home, causing significant damage. To stay warm, they were forced to purchase extra heaters and power banks to charge their devices, draining them of thousands of pounds.
Despite being on the National Grid's Priority Services Register for vulnerable households, Martina and her family were left without power for several days. The National Grid had offered to accommodate them in a hotel, but Martina was unable to leave her property as she needed to care for her animals, and her son, who is autistic, refused to leave the house. It wasn't until Wednesday that they were finally reconnected to the power grid, bringing a sense of relief and normalcy back into their lives.
In an interview with Metro, Martina, who is 45 years old, expressed how difficult the entire situation had been for her and her family. She described it as "absolutely awful" and compared it to "mental torture" due to the constant drip of information from the National Grid, raising their hopes only to let them down again. The situation was made even more challenging as their home was flooded, and they were left with a hole in the ceiling and a terrible smell due to the burst pipe.
Martina also shared how the outage had affected their daily lives and caused them to spend thousands of pounds on portable electronics and heaters to stay warm. She developed a chest infection from the freezing temperatures, and her son, who is asthmatic, couldn't receive the care he needed without power. She worried that his health would deteriorate without access to his nebulizer, and he also lost the lifeline of being able to chat with his friends online, which provides him with confidence and support.
Although Martina acknowledged that there are families who have been worse off after Storm Darragh, the constant flow of information from the National Grid made the situation even more challenging for them. They were not prepared for the extended power outage, living in a remote area, and were initially told that the power would be restored at 12:30 pm on the first day of the storm, only for it to be pushed back eight times. Even when they were told that the power had been restored on Monday, their efforts to turn all the trip switches off and back on again were unsuccessful, leaving them frustrated and feeling like it was a cruel trick.
According to the National Grid, over 1.8 million customers initially lost power over the weekend, with over 21,000 homes still without power on Tuesday. However, by Thursday afternoon, the vast majority of customers had been reconnected, and the remaining pockets were being worked on by teams working around the clock. A spokesperson for the National Grid apologized for the difficulties that customers, including Martina, had faced during the power cuts and offered her and her family hotel accommodation during the outage. They also mentioned reaching out to discuss customer guarantee payments.
In the end, Martina is grateful that they have finally been reconnected to the power grid, but she hopes to never experience such a trying time again. She expressed her frustration with the situation, saying that it was "really cruel" and that the constant flow of information from the National Grid, only to be let down again, was mentally draining. Despite the challenges they faced, she remains thankful for the support of her family and friends and hopes that no one else has to go through a similar experience in the future.
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