Thousands still without electricity in aftermath of Storm Arwen
TENS of thousands of residents in Scotland were still without electricity yesterday in the wake of Storm Arwen, which claimed the lives of three people in the UK.
Many spent two nights in sub-zero temperatures and woke up to snow yesterday morning.
Police in north east Scotland declared a major incident and warned disruption could last several days.
All schools in Aberdeenshire will remain closed today and tomorrow..
Mark Rough, director of customer operations at Scottish Southern and Electricity Network (SSEN), said the storm was “one of the most significant weather events we have experienced in decades”.
He said the damage caused by Storm Arwen is three times greater than that experienced by his team due to the “Beast from the East” in 2018.
More than 100,000 homes in Scotland lost power on Friday night due to the severe damage caused across the country. SSEN confirmed about 45,000 customers were still without power as at 11am yesterday and many may not see their electricity restored “for several days”.
The utility firm urged customers whose power is down, particularly those in rural and isolated communities, to make “alternative arrangements where possible”.
Further details on when power will be restored were to be shared later yesterday, SSEN added.
Mr Rough said: “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 due to multiple instances of damage which need to be repaired before power can be restored.
“We do expect to make good progress today and restore power to significant numbers of customers who remain off supply.
“However, as it is likely to take several days before each and every customer is restored and the network is back to normal operations, we are giving advance notice to customers, particularly those in rural and isolated communities.
“We fully appreciate the challenging situation our customers are facing and we would like to apologise again to everyone who has been impacted by Storm Arwen and thank them for their patience as we do everything we can to restore power.”
He urged vulnerable customers and those who are concerned about a neighbour or relative in an isolated, rural community to call the SSEN team on 105.
Three people were killed when the storm brought gusts of almost 100mph to parts of the UK. Police Scotland confirmed a 35-year-old man died when his pick-up truck was struck by a falling tree on the B977 Dyce to
Hatton of Fintray Road in Aberdeenshire at about 5.45pm on Friday.
Cumbria Police said a man from Lancaster died in Ambleside after a tree fell on him. In Northern Ireland, a man was killed when his car was hit by a falling tree in County Antrim.