On Monday night, the energy firm said 19,000 out of the 42,000 customers are still being supplied by generators that were mobilised on Sunday night, and plans are in place to begin restoring supply from 08:00 GMT on Tuesday 8 December.
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Waters are now subsiding, with most of the homes disconnected over the weekend now back online, although only a handful of providers have set up a helpline for customers.
The Glenridding Hotel said it is flooding again, and in need of more sandbags “to try and cope with it”.
“The update is that we have just one severe flood warning still in place and power has been restored to 168,000 homes and the West Coast Mainline has re-opened”.
Chairing a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency response committee, Prime Minister David Cameron said a full reimbursement for the costs associated with the flooding will be given to the councils.
Police have said that a body found in Cumbria is believed to be that of an elderly man who was reported missing following reports that he had fallen into a river.
The police estimated that some 4,900 to 6,400 buildings were flooded in Cumbria.
Community Foundation for Lancashire Chief Executive Cathy Elliott said: It is still too soon to know how much damage has been caused by Storm Desmond, though we wanted to launch the Recovery Fund to provide whatever support we can.
Some 55,000 people were left without power, 40 schools were closed Monday and a main rail line between England and Scotland is likely to remain shut until at least Wednesday.
“In those areas where the water did come over the tops of the defences, firstly, the fact the defences were there reduced the overall impact and extent of the flood and, secondly, it gave people more time to prepare”, he said in an interview.
Before his visit to Cumbria, he promised to “make sure everything is done” to help flood victims. The emergency services have been brilliant. The floods have raised questions on why the multi-million-pound flood defences that were upgraded in 2010 to withstand a “once in 100 years” flood, were breached at the weekend. “They have abandoned the consensus on flood investment built by the Labour party after the 2007 floods – and are failing the British people due to their obsession with austerity”. But this has proved to be yet another false promise.
Cumbria County Council leader Stewart Young has called for an investigation into the county’s flood defences after £45m was invested since catastrophic floods in 2005.
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As a row threatened to overtake the Conservative government over spending on flood defences the environment secretary Liz Truss told Sky News: “It’s completely wrong [to say] that we are cutting flood defences”.
