Video: Villagers spending third day without power in Charsfield

Power is still down in the Suffolk village of Charsfield, three days on from St Jude. Sharon and Gerry Bird run the Three Horseshoes and are having to light the pub by candlelight and heat it with a log fire. (Image: Archant)

While the disruption proved a short-lived inconvenience for many, some homeowners and businesses were still without heat, light and means of communication today.

Among the areas worst affected was Charsfield, near Woodbridge, where residents were still waiting to be reconnected more than two days after the storm struck.

Despite losing at least £2,000 worth of chilled and frozen food, not to mention loss of trade, the Charsfield Three Horseshoes remained open as a fire-lit refuge for the village.

Landlords Jerry and Sharon Bird were last night due to host a curry night and a meeting of the Charsfield Amateur Dramatic Society, which would normally gather in the village hall.

Mrs Bird, who reopened the pub with her husband last December following seven months closure, said: “It has been a nightmare. We didn’t realise it was going to be so bad.

“We’ve had no mobile signal, no phone, no internet, no heating and no hot water.”

The pub has only been reachable by an old analogue phone which the Birds had thrown away but managed to salvage from the bin.

“We’ve been cooking people food on the gas hob and we’re being lent a generator to charge things up for the curry night.

“Everyone has been pulling together in the village. Some people have been going round making sure the neighbours are alright.”

Mr Bird added: “We’re a food-led pub so we stand to lose stock and earnings. If we’d known how long this would last we could have prepared and made plans. The worst thing has been not knowing.”