Cleaning up after

MANY home and business owners have spent the weekend cleaning up in the aftermath of Storm Arwen which battered Dundee, Angus and Perthshire on Friday and Saturday.

In Dundee, an elderly couple suffered sleepless nights over the weekend after a 50ft tree was brought down by the storm. Council tenants Stella and Richard Hutchison got the shock of their lives after a tree fell against their Garvock Place property.

Stella, 75 and Richard, 77, are still reeling from the incident which happened just after 7pm on Friday.

The pensioners spent Saturday scrambling around to get the insurance process started, while also contacting Dundee City Council (DCC) to tackle the problem.

Forestry staff from DCC visited the house on Saturday night before confirming the tree wasn’t to be removed until today due to its size.

Stella said: “The fire service said it was too big for them to remove. I’ve been on the phone to the insurance, the council and Councillor Ian Borthwick, who contacted the forestry department on our behalf.

“There was a fear they could cause further damage to the roof if they opted to remove it on Saturday.

“It’s a bit of an agonising wait, you worry another bad night of weather could cause it to move again.”

Meanwhile, a Dundee woman said she was “really lucky” to escape unharmed after a 40ft tree toppled on to her car during the storm.

Jill Sutherland was trapped in her vehicle on the city’s Myrekirk Road on Friday evening as the storm wreaked havoc on Tayside.

The 56-year-old was stationary at the roundabout when the incident happened shortly after 5pm.

Speaking to the Evening Telegraph, she thanked two members of the public who rushed to her aid before emergency services arrived.

She said: “There was literally a big bang and the car was submerged under the tree. The passenger windows had smashed.

“I couldn’t get the driver’s side door opened due to the impact and went into panic mode.”

The Menzieshill resident said a man by the name of Eric and woman called Aileen came to her rescue.

She said: “They were absolutely brilliant. Eric managed to prize the driver’s door open enough for me to get out.”

As the clean-up operation continued, it was revealed that homes in Perthshire and Angus could face “several days” of disruption as Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) battle the aftermath of Storm Arwen.

The energy company has been working around the clock to resolve issues, but it was estimated that 45,000 customers were yesterday impacted by the damage to the network after storms battered Tayside, Angus and Fife.

Homes in Newtyle, Auchterhouse, Kirriemuir and Brechin were among those enduring a third day without heat, light and water.

SSEN said welfare facilities have been deployed to Kirriemuir, near the Bon Scott Statue, to assist those impacted.

Mark Rough, director of customer operations at SSEN, has advised those in rural and isolated communities to make “alternative arrangements”.

He added: “Our teams are responding to some of the most significant and challenging conditions experienced in the areas affected in decades, with catastrophic damage on several overhead circuits which need to be repaired before power can be restored.

“The damage caused by Storm Arwen is three times greater than we experienced from the ‘Beast from the East’ in 2018.

“We do expect to make good progress today and restore power to significant numbers of customers.

“However, as it is likely to take several days before each and every customer is restored.”

Elsewhere, Carnoustie and some areas of Arbroath were left without power for 16 hours over the weekend, with 7,000 homes and businesses estimated to have been affected.