Snow fun for some, power cuts for others

POWER cuts caused by the heavy snowfall on Tuesday night affected homes and businesses across the district today (Wednesday).

The Colney Fields retail park in London Colney lost power at around 10pm on Tuesday night along with the nearby Ridgeview hostel in Barnet Road.

Sainsbury's manager Danny Malyon explained that his store and the neighbouring Marks and Spencer shop were open with power provided by a generator. But the remaining shops in the retail park, which include Boots, Next, Monsoon and Borders, did not have a back-up supply and were all forced to close yesterday.

And at 2.30pm in the afternoon their power was still out with no indication as to when it would be reinstated.

It is believed that parts of Harpenden, Kimpton and Park Street were also affected.

EDF Energy would not comment on specific locations but said around 2,800 customers in Herts were still affected yesterday afternoon along with thousands of others in the rest of the East of England region.

A spokesperson for the company said the problems were down to the weight of snow on trees causing branches to bend or break and hit overhead power lines.

Fallen trees also caused problems on the roads in the district.

Shenley Lane in London Colney was closed between King's Road and Napsbury Avenue due to a fallen tree and a large branch in Harpenden Road opposite Petersfield also caused problems for drivers heading northbound.

The band of wintery weather was expected to move across Herts but it hovered over the area for several hours on Tuesday night.

Hundreds of trees were brought down across the county and Herts Highways emergency response teams were called out throughout the night.

Weather expert Chris Hall at Rothamsted Research station in Harpenden said that the lowest minimum air temperature for Tuesday night was -2.9 degrees centigrade.