About 250 Belco customers were without power yesterday after a series of incidents disrupted supply.

According to the Belco outage map, 253 customers had lost electricity as of 12.30pm, however, by 4pm, the number of customers impacted had fallen to 12, including 11 in Paget and one in Sandys.

Shelly Leman, a Belco managing director, said that three main areas experienced outages.

She explained: “One in the vicinity of the gas station on North Shore Road in Hamilton Parish that occurred as a result of a burning crossarm and downed line, a second as a result of a pole fire near Coot Pond Road in St George’s and a third near Mission Crescent as a result of burnt taps on a pole transformer.”

Ms Leman added: “Salt deposits building up on overhead infrastructure, such as insulators and cross arms, allow tracking to occur which can result in arcing or flashovers which can cause fires.

“In each instance crews responded right away and worked to get the power on as quickly and safely as possible.

“There were no planned outages today as Belco crews have been engaged in emergency restoration work.”

The latest spate of outages came just days after Belco workers fully restored power to the 6,315 customers who lost electricity in fierce winter weather last weekend.

A Belco spokesman said: “Within 24 hours 5,779 customers had their power restored, and by 8.40pm on Tuesday all customers were back on Belco supply.

“With the persistent heavy winds, there were reports of vegetation coming into contact with our overhead lines causing outages, however, more frequent reports of sparking lines and pole fires were reported.

“During high wind events, salt particles can be carried long distances inland and deposit onto overhead infrastructure such as insulators and cross arms.

“Light rain or high humidity can then create a thin conductive layer on this equipment which allows current to flow and tracking to occur which can result in arcing or flashovers that can cause a pole fire.”

The spokesman said that ten pole fires were reported across the island and seven poles needed to be replaced as part of the repair works.

Ms Leman added: “Restoration efforts progressed steadily through the weekend and into the new week, often in hazardous conditions.

“The teams were able to restore approximately 6,000 customers relatively quickly with around 600 remaining off supply into Monday.

“Our crews tended to several reports of sparking lines as well as several pole fires which caused resources to be diverted to these emergencies.

“I would like to say a big thank you to our teams once again for braving the elements to restore service to the island and to our customers for their patience throughout the restoration process.”

The Bermuda Weather Service recorded winds reaching 36mph and gusts hitting 56mph yesterday morning as a cold front passed over the island, bringing rain with it.

However, conditions have since improved with better weather expected today.