Sparking cables leave villagers in dark

Kyleakin residents on Skye were left baffled after sparks were seen bursting from power cables and caused disruption to the electricity supply at some homes.

The shock display occurred as planned work was being undertaken in the area, with the fault causing a power outage for some villagers.

Residents of Olaf Road and Kyleside lost power for large parts of Wednesday night before it was restored around 10.30pm.

“I saw these flashes and sparks out of the window”

Resident Caitlin Brown, of Olaf Road, said: “There is a new housing development out the back from where we stay and I think they were putting in a new generator.

“I was in my bedroom when I saw these flashes and sparks out of the window which I assumed were fireworks but it actually turned out to be the power cables sparking all down the village by the rows of houses next to us.

“It was all pretty crazy and the footage only really shows the tale end of what was happening.”

Another resident said they believed the village’s electricity supply had been served by a generator as work was being undertaken, however, they still experienced a power outage at 9pm.

A Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks spokesman said: “We were informed of the incident by a customer around 6.10pm after they’d seen a flash on the overhead line.

“Our engineers visited the site where they established there had been damage to the overhead lines. Our team restrung the lines, with 27 of the 84 affected customers back on the grid at 7.30pm. The remainder were restored by 10.30pm.”