Frustrated residents left without power for four nights have hit out at an “absolutely shocking” lack of communication in the aftermath of Storm Arwen.
Hundreds of households across the Stewartry lost power on Friday night after the district was battered by strong winds and heavy rain.
It was gradually restored over the coming days but by Tuesday morning parts of Mossdale were still without electricity.
And while appreciative of the efforts of engineers on the frontline, residents were unhappy with the information on the situation provided by Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN).
Matt Booth, who lives at Drumwhill to the south of the village, said on Tuesday morning: “The messaging from SPEN has been absolutely shocking.
“It’s been an absolute disgrace. There have been mixed messages on the phone line and on the website. I don’t know which one to believe. It keeps on moving and nobody really tells us what is going on.
“It would be nice if they actually came out and helped people, gave a real message and if there are people out there who are elderly and can’t eat and need food I hope somebody out there helps them as it’s not great.”
Power was eventually restored to Drumwhill on Tuesday afternoon by which point the house had been without electricity for nearly 90 hours.
Mr Booth, who is a member of Galloway Mountain Rescue Team, said: “I’m sure there were people in a much worse state than I was.
“I had an open fire, I had plenty of logs and coal. I’m a hill walker so I’ve got a camping stove and I devised a way of getting water out of the well, but it’s not ideal.”
The village shop didn’t have power restored until Monday evening and Annie Blore was full of praise of the engineers who had been working to sort the problem.
She said: “There have been electricians on site working all hours. We have no complaints there and normally the back up service telling us what’s happening is good as well. It’s just this time it’s been a bit chaotic.
“We have been getting the wrong information – the website has said it was back on when it wasn’t.
“A lovely lady phoned on Tuesday morning to see if we were okay and was horrified to learn nobody had been in touch.”
Councillor Pauline Drysdale, below, has been helping people affected receive support from SPEN and the council’s response team.
She said: “Going forward I’ve strongly suggested to both the council and SPEN that should we experience an emergency situation such as this again a dedicated number of village and town halls across the Stewartry ought to be opened up and run on emergency generators.
“That way anyone who is struggling or in dire need can at least access shelter, warmth, clean water and food, especially if it runs into night three and four.
“The whole idea of community resilience funding during Covid was to be ready and prepared for this type of situation but unfortunately this did not transpire over the weekend. I’m hopeful that valuable lessons can be learned going forward to better protect our rural communities.”
A spokeswoman for SP Energy Networks said some of the damage seen was the worst for more than 15 years.
She said: “Our teams on the ground are working tirelessly to reconnect power as quickly and as safely as possible to those who are still off supply.
“We apologise to all of our customers who have been affected by the damage. We understand the stress and inconvenience this has caused many households and we appreciate everyone’s patience whilst we continue to try to resolve the ongoing issues on the power network.
“We are also offering customer hot food and drinks and hotels for anyone who needs this and have fitted generators to customers most in need. We are also visiting customers to support where individual needs are being identified.”
