Powerline ‘progress’ but some homes still in the dark
Damage is‘catastrophic’
The managing director of the firm tasked with restoring power to homes and businesses since Friday’s “once in a generation” weather has described the impact of Storm Arwen as “catastrophic”.
On Wednesday morning, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said it was still dealing with widespread and extensive damage to its network caused by high winds and fallen trees over the weekend.
It said “progress had been made” on restoring power to more than 2000 properties across the country over the course of Tuesday alone – meaning in excess of 118,000 customers had seen their supply restored since the start of the adverse weather from Friday afternoon last week.
Of the 9500 customers still without a supply across the country late on Tuesday night, SSEN said 578 were based in Perthshire – although hopes were high more would be reconnected overnight.
It said the bulk of the properties affected in Comrie and St Fillans – two of the communities hit the hardest locally by the elements – had their power restored earlier in the week, although a number of locals and businesses were still experiencing difficulties as the Herald went to press this week.
A spokesperson for the firm said the majority of high voltage faults, connecting larger population centres, were currently being worked on and restoration was being progressed over the course of Tuesday and into Wednesday.
They explained localised faults – such as those affecting single households and groups of houses – would “follow” and advised people to consider alternative arrangements if possible as it could be as late as Friday this week until individual issues are resolved.
Rest and welfare facilities were still in operation to support customers who remain without power and continued to provide hot food and drinks on Tuesday, although the only one available within the Perth and Kinross Council catchment on Tuesday was at the Dalrulzion Hotel near Glenshee.
SSEN stressed support was being prioritised for the most vulnerable and work was being carried out alongside what was described as “local and national resilience partners” to co-ordinate the community response.
Those unable to make use of these facilities or make alternative arrangements themselves were asked to keep the receipts for any food and hotel accommodation in order to be reimbursed at a later date.
Chris Burchell, SSEN’s managing director, said: “The impact of Storm Arwen has caused catastrophic damage to the electricity network across the north- east of Scotland and is the most significant event we have ever had to deal with in the area in a generation.
“I would like to thank our customers who have shown great resilience, patience and understanding since the impact of Storm Arwen and we fully recognise that urgency of the situation for those who continue to remain off supply.
“I would like to personally apologise to all customers who have been impacted and would like to reassure everyone still off supply that our teams are working extremely hard to reconnect them as soon as possible.
“While our teams continue to make good progress carrying out repairs and restoring power to homes, some customers regrettably face another night without power.
“Due to the extent of damage and complexity of repairs our teams are dealing with, unfortunately restoration times for more remote and isolated communities will extend to later this week.
“We therefore encourage
Our teams continue to go over and above, working late into the night, and in harsh conditions Chris Burchell
all customers who remain off supply to consider our welfare provisions, which we hope will go some way to help them deal with what remains an incredibly difficult situation.
“I would also like to extend my heartfelt thanks to our local and national resilience partners and stakeholders - including local community groups and charities, local and national governments and elected members - for their continued support and help in responding to the impacts of Storm Arwen.
“Finally, I would like to pay tribute to our teams
and I know their continued efforts are appreciated by our customers and stakeholders.”
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service received more than 900 emergency calls – almost three times the normal number – over a 24-hour period from 7am on Friday.
A spokesperson said more than 500 of these related to the impact of the severe weather associated with Storm Arwen.
Dur ing that time, firefighters were mobilised to more than 500 incidents, many of which were related to high winds, with areas in the north and east of Scotland being worst affected.
And, between 3pm and midnight on Friday, the service’s operations control rooms in Dundee and Edinburgh received more than 500 weatherrelated emergency calls, which included calls for assistance to make damaged buildings safe and road traffic collisions.
• Anyone requiring support can contact SSEN on 105 or see the website http://news. ssen.co.uk