Engineers have been working through the night to restore power to homes cut-off in last night’s storms.

Around 1,500 houses in Wirral have been reconnected, leaving 1,000 still without supply.

Approximately 52,000 homes are without power across the ScottishPower network area.

The company said 450 field staff starting the recovery operation at first light this morning.

Up to 100 additional linesmen and engineers from Scotland have been drafted in to assist the recovery.

Some 140,000 homes in Mid and North Wales, North Shropshire and Cheshire have been affected, with engineers restoring power to 88,000.

A company spokesman said: “The biggest issue affecting the electricity network has been uprooted trees and other debris blown on to overhead power lines, which has caused damage and brought down the power lines in some areas.

“Storm force winds continued in to the evening yesterday causing hazardous working conditions and hampering the recovery operation.”

The company is responding to approximately 800 individual faults on the network.

ScottishPower has cancelled all planned maintenance work.

The spokesman added: “The company will do all that it can to restore supplies as quickly as possible.

"However, a number of roads and bridges have been blocked and closed by fallen trees which continue to restrict access in certain locations.”