Lochaber escapes the worst of Storm Arwen

Lochaber and the rest of the West Coast escaped the worst of Storm Arwen which battered the eastern half of the UK with 90mph gusts on Friday, causing three fatalities and catastrophic damage, writes Mark Entwistle.

Over the 24-hour period from 7am on Friday, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) received more than 900 emergency calls – almost three times the normal number.

John Dickie, the SRFS’s assistant chief officer, commented: ‘This has been an exceptional weather event and a challenging night.’

In the west, which usually gets the brunt of approaching storms, trains on the West Highland Line between Glasgow and Oban and Fort William were disrupted, alongside vital ferry services, especially between

Stornoway.

Surveying the damage on Saturday morning, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), which serves 3.8 million customer in the north of Scotland and England, reported ‘significant’ damage ‘due to fallen trees, over the Ullapool

Minch and branches, and other windblown debris striking network infrastructure.’

SSEN experienced more than 300 high voltage faults and its operational teams successfully restored power to over 40,000 customers in extremely challenging conditions.

Around 75,000 currently remain customers off supply,

Damage caused by Storm Arwen to power cables.

with the main areas affected being Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Moray Coast.

Elsewhere, a feed barge on a fish farm off Skye ended up submerged, forcing owners, the Scottish Salmon Company (SSC), and a team of divers, to carry out a recovery. No one was on board the facility, and there was no other damage to the fish farm.

And Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) is urging members of the public to stay away from its forests.

Early indications are that forests across the country – particularly east coast sites – have been affected to some degree.

Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston praised the efforts of workers and all those responding to the emergency conditions by Storm Arwen.

Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Halcro Johnston said: ‘Many parts of my region sustained a severe battering from the storm, with homes and businesses left without power, and roads closed by fallen trees and debris. It has taken some time to put things right, and there are still some areas without power, but the efforts of power company workers, our emergency services and others involved has been remarkable. Many have worked through a number of days and nights in very challenging conditions.

‘That includes individuals and businesses which have stepped in to help those in their communities, providing food and supplies to make the situation a little more bearable. We owe them all a deep debt of thanks for their efforts.’ caused