Winds and heavy rain wreak havoc
Power cut, flooding, falling masony and trains off
Areas of Perth and Kinross succumbed to torrential weather conditions this week causing a major power outage, floods and falling masonry.
On Tuesday, around 170 residents in Errol were hit by a power cut after heavy winds knocked over a SSEN electricity pole.
The damage was reported at around 4pm, and engineers arrived on site at 5pm to install a new pole.
A SSEN spokesperson said: “We would like to apologise to our customers who have been affected by the damage to our pole and assure them our engineers do all they can to restore their supplies as safely and as quickly as possible.
“If you ever come across any damage to our equipment, please don’t touch it, stay well back, call our 24/7 emergency line on 105 and we’ll arrange for an engineer to inspect the damage and make sure the situation is safe.”
Earlier that day a tree was blown over in Scone, blocking off Catmoor Street for over an hour. The area was cordoned off while council workers used chainsaws to remove the debris and reopen the route.
Firefighters also attended North Methven Street in Perth that afternoon, amid reports of cement falling from the roof of a building.
Crews jumped into action to stop the loose masonry with some concerns it could be blown onto the vehicles below.
A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “We were alerted at 2.09pm on Tuesday, February 23 to reports of cement falling from a roof of a property at North Methven Street, Perth.
“Operations Control mobilised one appliance and one aerial rescue pump to the scene where firefighters removed debris from a building.
“Crews left after ensuring the area was made safe. There were no reported casualties.”
Around that same time a van toppled over on a stretch of the A9 near Blackford.
A Police Scotland spokesman said officers were called to the scene of the crash just before 1pm.
The obstruction was soon removed and the road fully reopened by 2.10pm.
On Wednesday, train services were hit by the heavy weather forcing ScotRail to close all lines between Perth and Pitlochry.
That same day the A923 between Coupar Angus and Blairgowrie had to be closed again following hours of heavy rainfall overnight.
The A984 Bendochy to Meikleour road also shut due to flooding and the Meigle to Alyth road also had to be closed.
The flood gates were closed by PKC as a precaution and a stock of sandbags were available for rollout if needed.
A council spokesperson said: “Protecting property is the responsibility of the owner but our staff are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week should help be needed in the event of an emergency.”
Thankfully the weekend looks much calmer with Friday and Saturday expected to be dry with temperatures reaching 11 degrees Celsius while Sunday only has a small chance of rain.