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Openreach 'sorry' for internet storm repair delay

News imageBBC A village street in the darkness, phone lines lie across the carriageway following a storm.BBC
Thousands of homes in Cornwall were left with no broadband internet connection after Storm Goretti

An apology has been issued to people still without the internet at home a month after Storm Goretti.

About 28,000 households in Cornwall were left with no broadband internet connection after the storm caused widespread damage and flooding on 8 January.

Openreach, the company responsible for internet infrastructure, said about 50 incidents remained without connection and the majority of those "should be reconnected by close of play on Friday".

Nicola Hart, service delivery director at Openreach, said further bad weather hampered repairs and she was sorry some customers were still without internet.

Storms Ingrid and Chandra brought further rain and flooding to the region, adding to the disruption already caused by Goretti.

Hart said the damage to the network was "quite severe".

"The other two storms that hit us, that has actually caused us extra complications and delayed some of the repair from a safety perspective," she said.

"You can imagine there's lots of cables and dangerous things underground that impact us."

News imageA woman called Nicola Hart sits down in front of a white wall and a wooden door. She has long straight hair going past her shoulders which looks like it has been dyed silver. She is wearing a black top. She has thick black eye-shadow on her eyebrows.
Nicola Hart said the repairs had been delayed by further stormy weather

Hart said engineers had been working hard to restore connection and the majority of customers were now back online.

"From my point of view I'm very, very sorry to those customers that we haven't been able to get them back online just yet," she said.

"I know how important it is, I know how difficult life is without that connectivity.

"I do hope that we will have all of them with the exception of a couple of really, really troubling cases back online by close play on Friday."

News imageValerie Baker Valerie baker, she has a grey jumper and short grey hair. She is sat on a sofa holding her telephone in her hand. Valerie Baker
Valerie baker's property has been without internet since the storm in January

Valerie Baker, a customer from Falmouth who has been without internet since the storm, told Julie Skentelbery on BBC Radio Cornwall that Openreach had visited her property four times to try and get her reconnected and described the process as a "debacle".

"It's just crazy the inefficiency. Four different occasions they've been out and they haven't been able to bring the correct vehicle to get up on the roof and instigate this repair," she said.

Baker said she was "gobsmacked" by the process and she felt "exasperated".

Storm Goretti: One month on the clean up continues

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