HUNDREDS of homes in Hampshire are tonight spending Boxing Day without power following this week’s storm.

Teams from Southern Electric Power Distribution are working into the night to restore power to 378 households in rural parts of the New Forest.

Director of Distribution Stuart Hogarth said: "We would like to thank customers for their continued patience while our teams work in particularly challenging conditions to restore electricity to their homes.

“We are continuing our efforts into the evening while it is safe for our staff to work on, and although we would like to assure all customers power will be restored this evening, in some circumstances given the flooding and poor conditions the reality for a few may be another night without power. “I can reassure all customers affected that every effort is being made to restore supplies this evening."

Over 300 operational and contracting staff are on site at affected areas across the South, including 95 tree cutting staff assisting to remove trees from access roads and overhead lines Staff will work into the night where safe to do so to locate and repair faults.

Emergency Service Centre staff in Portsmouth and Perth are manned up to answer customer calls and give updates.

Help and assistance is available for vulnerable customers and staff are proactively calling out to them.