Farming Matters: Drama on stormy night

Well this week we saw first hand it’s very damaging effects.

A huge heavy limb split off our neighbour’s horse chestnut tree and crashed down onto their roof, creating a massive hole and bringing down the electricity wire in the process.

It was a stormy night and we were all out in the rain to inspect the damage.

At that stage our electricity was still on, and the live wire was blowing about in the wind, very close to the ground.

Very soon however, three men from UK Power Networks, were on the scene to switch it off, keep us all safe and to repair the damage.

Two of the men live in Hemel Hempstead and one was from Berkhamsted, but they cover a massive area of the south east often travelling right down to Southampton.

At times of emergency teams are called in from other parts of the country, with men coming down from Scotland and Northern Ireland.

And if the emergencies are across the whole country, Justin told me electricians are even brought in from France to help.

The men soon had everything under control and the electricity was restored, and the line placed safely out of harms way.

The next day the branch imbedded in our neighbour’s roof was removed by tree surgeons, and then a roofer came out to repair the hole.

Over the weekend my husband spent a lot of time sawing up the fallen branches, so at least some good has come from bad, and the logs will keep everyone warm through the winter.