Hundreds of homes in Scotland faced a second night without power after Storm Gerrit battered the country with heavy rain, wind and snow.
Power company Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said it had restored supply to more than 46,000 properties that lost power due to the storm, with people in the north east and Shetland worst affected.
“As of 7.45am this morning, SSEN Distribution has reconnected over 45,000 customers. Work this morning is progressing to reconnect 750 of our customers still off supply,” a spokesperson said.
They said the remaining homes should be reconnected on Friday with welfare vans serving hot food and drink to affected customers from 9am.
STV NewsOperations director Andy Smith said: “This has been a difficult couple of days for the communities affected and I’m grateful to them for their patience and support as our teams work extremely hard to restore power.”
As part of SSEN’s support package, customers who will be without power for more than 12 hours are entitled to £30 per person for every day without power to cover the cost of food and drink.
Customers on SSEN’s Priority Service Register can also claim “reasonable” costs for alternative accommodation if it is expected they will be without power for more than 24 hours.
Network Rail confirmed on Friday morning that all lines which had previously been closed following the adverse weather had now reopened, with the exception of Dumfries – Kilmarnock.
The final route is expected to open later on Friday morning.
Traffic Scotland said that the A82 between Invergarry and Invermoriston remains closed due to fallen trees on the carriageway on Friday.
The A96 has reopened in both directions at Huntly.
And six people were rescued from vehicles stuck in flood water in Banchory.
Ferry operator CalMac announced a series of cancellations, delays and time changes to a number of services on Friday.
Passengers are advised to check for updates on CalMac’s X account.
Follow STV News on WhatsApp
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
