Two thousand still have no power

Winds of up to 92mph battered the region on Thursday

About 2,000 homes remained without power on Saturday in the Yorkshire and Humber region - two days after storms blacked out 50,000 households.

Most of the affected properties were in northern Lincolnshire and the Kirklees area of West Yorkshire.

At dawn on Saturday engineers began the "final push" to restore power to all customers, said supplier CE Electric.

However, it warned that some people who had been reconnected would have to be cut off again as repair work continued.

More gales forecast

CE Electric operations director Mike Leighton said: "Most of the remaining supplies will be reconnected during Saturday but we expect to continue repair work on Sunday.

"Replacing equipment damaged by the storms over the weekend will regrettably mean customers who have previously had their supplies restored may be switched off again for short periods whilst further work is carried out."

A company spokeswoman said it was too early to put a figure on the damage caused by the storms in the region, but the cost of replacing power lines was likely to run into millions of pounds.

Meanwhile, engineers were braced for further damage as gusts of 60mph were forecast across the region on Saturday night and Sunday morning.