WEST Cornwall’s MP has called on the prime minister and senior ministers for additional support to manage the continuing risks to vulnerable people affected by Storm Goretti.

Andrew George, MP for West Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (St Ives), described frontline operatiors as “overwhelmed”.

Storm damage in his constituency, which encompasses Helston and Penzance, includes the patients of Poldhu Nursing Home having had to be evacuated when the roof blew off and power and water supplies failed; a caravan crushed by a falling tree on Friday, killing the inhabitant; 23,000 homes yet to have power restored, and tens of thousands of residents without water. Water supply stations are being set up, not only for those residents who can drive to them to collect, but also for farms which need 20 gallons a day per head of cattle.

Mr George told a meeting of the Emergency Ministerial Strategic Response Group: “If this had happened in London or the Home Counties, it would have been headline national news for days and the government would declare a national emergency.”

He added: “Though the frontline operators are all working heroically to restore services and to support the most vulnerable, it’s clear to me they’ve been overwhelmed.

“It doesn’t help if power and water suppliers feel obliged to present an ‘everything is under control - so don’t worry’ coping message, but that’s not the impression I get when out talking to those affected.

“I’ve conveyed many pleas for help from 20+ communities still desperate for help, but those are only the ones with a means of communication. Worryingly, I’ve not heard from many others which are bound to have been affected, down on the Lizard and across the Penwith peninsula. It’s simply not been possible to check on the welfare of everyone who lives in the many isolated homes throughout west Cornwall.”