Households across Norfolk spent a weekend in darkness after chaos caused by Storm Eunice saw power supplies still damaged.

UK Power Networks said 2,000 properties in Norfolk remained without power 24 hours after the gale force winds battered the electricity network causing "a month's worth of faults in a day".

But where many homes saw the lights flicker on after the network's engineers rushed to fix the problems, some went without heat and light for 48 hours or more.

Among them was Janice Goward, 54, from Great Ellingham, near Attleborough.

She and partner Charlie, 49, lost electricity at 3pm on Friday and engineers were still trying to reconnect theirs and neighbouring cottages on Sunday afternoon.

She said: “It’s been a nightmare.

“We’ve been trying to use the gas camping stove but the gas bottles have run out. We only had the wood burner and so we had no heat upstairs.

"We have been using fairy lights, candles, camping lights, even a hat with a light in it. You name it, we tried it.”

The couple, who are due to get married in April, had been unable to have a shower since Friday but still had to go to work at a local free range egg producer.

“It’s been a case of we’ve got to keep going,” said Ms Goward. “We’ve had to get up in the mornings cold, quickly having to get dressed because there was no heat or light and then a kettle on the gas stove to have a quick drink before we go.”

The couple have been living off takeaways.

She said: "Both our freezers and all the food had to be chucked £200 to £300 worth because we’d recently filled them."

Large areas of east and south Norfolk were without the lights throughout Saturday and work was still underway to reconnect dozens on Sunday especially in rural villages.

Ms Goward said they reported it as soon as they lost power but repeatedly reconnection times had come and gone.

She said: “I understand they’ve had a lot to do. The storm has obviously done a lot of damage and they are rushed off their feet.

“I had my fingers crossed hoping it would be back on Sunday because I could not do another night of it.

“It was fun the first night we got a board game out but it quickly became not funny.”

It comes as Norfolk is set to be hit by winds of up to 70mph as Storm Franklin rolls in, just two days after Storm Eunice.