Belco have promised a full investigation after a Devonshire neighbourhood was paralysed for more than 14 hours by downed sparking wires blocking a road.

Residents said constant calls to the emergency authorities went unheeded and it was only when someone managed to reach Belco CEO Garry Madeiros that the wires were cleared.

Debbie Masters, of Devon Heights Close, said neighbours found the poll wires strewn across at Devonshire Heights Road at 7 o?clock on the morning of Hurricane Florence.

She said the wires were popping and sizzling.

?Everyone was calling Belco but we didn?t get a response ? but they were live wires. This went on all day.

?By eight o?clock in the evening I was beside myself ? the wires were still live. Many of us were calling Police and they were trying to help us. It was a real crisis.

?Finally someone managed to call Garry Madeiros at home ? and within 15 minutes Belco staff arrived. That was 14 and a half hours later.

?It was too long ? they could at least have switched it off. It?s not right you have to call the CEO to get a crisis situation sorted out.?

She said neighbours had to stand guard near the wires to stop someone blundering into a tragedy.

?There were four little boys who wanted to see the sparking poll fire ? they almost got electrocuted.?

An outraged Mrs. Masters said Belco needed to sort out their communications before the next hurricane again put people in jeopardy.

Belco spokeswoman Linda Smith Wilson said the incident would be top of the list in the company?s post-Florence debriefing.

She said: ?It?s our practice to respond immediately to live wires. It?s a dangerous situation.

?We also have dedicated crew. The way this was handled and the reason it took so long will obviously be looked into.

?This is not something which normally happens. Nobody at Belco would deliberately not respond?

Local MP Michael Dunkley said he was baffled by the lapse given the first class job done across the Island and the fact crews were in the neighbourhood from early afternoon on the day of the storm.

He said: ?Thankfully the local residents stayed cool and made sure no one got in harm?s way.?