Engineers battle to restore power as 70,000 hit by black-out

ENERGY provider Northern Power has confirmed that 70,000 customers were affected by today’s powercut.

Properties across Barnsley and Rotherham were left without power for up to 40 minutes after an electrical fault on an overhead line shut down the system.

A Northern Power spokesman said: “We were able to restore most within 15 minutes.

“We’re continuing to work on the issue but it’s too early to confirm if it was caused by the weather.”

Properties as far away as Chapeltown were also affected by the fault.

The Met Office has issued a Yellow Warning for strong winds which will continue to batter the area into tomorrow.

Gusts could reach 50-6 mph and 70mph in exposed areas.