More than 4,900 homes without power for fourth night after Storm Amy

Key Points

Engineers have reconnected 83,000 homes across Scotland after Storm Amy, but 4,900 properties remain without electricity
Winds reaching up to 100mph caused widespread damage to power lines and travel infrastructure
Hundreds of engineers and tree-cutting specialists, including reinforcements from across the UK, are working in challenging conditions to restore services

Engineers are still trying to reconnect 4,900 homes in Scotland, four days after Storm Amy battered the country with strong winds and heavy rain.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said that as of 5pm on Monday, their teams had reconnected 83,000 households and work is under way to restore power for 4,900.

The company said hundreds of team members are working to fix a total of 700 network faults across the country.

It comes after the first named storm of the season, Storm Amy, brought “extremely damaging” winds which saw gusts of up to 100mph.

The Met Office issued an amber warning that was in place from Friday until Saturday, as well as yellow warnings for wind and rain across the weekend.

The strong winds and heavy rain wreaked havoc with power supplies and travel links across Scotland.

SSEN said said tree-cutting and network repair teams have been clearing access routes and fixing network damage.

“Challenges caused by felled trees and storm debris have been problems for transport providers and utilities in the wake of this storm, so SSEN’s tree cutting teams have played a vital role, by clearing a route for engineers to assess, and then repair faults,” a spokesperson for the company said.

Most of the homes still without power are in the Highlands, while some communities in Argyll and Bute are also waiting to be reconnected.

Highlands & Islands

Road worker clearing fallen trees with chainsaw assaulted and pushed into ditch

The worker was operating a chainsaw when he was assaulted and pushed into a ditch by a man with a French or Italian accent.

SSEN added that teams are being supported by more than 500 people who’ve travelled to the north of Scotland from other network operators based elsewhere in the country, and from contract partners.

Nik Wheeler, SSEN’s head of customer operations for the north of Scotland, said: “The third full day of our storm response is also the third day without power for a number of our customers.

“I know this has been a challenging time, and I want to thank people for their patience and understanding. We’re working as safely and quickly as we can, and the pace of our restoration operation is picking up further speed as weather conditions improve, and the access to damage locations is cleared.

“However, the reality of what we’re finding once we make full assessments of the damage is considerable; in many locations, there are several issues on the same stretch of the network, and all these need to be fixed before homes can be reconnected. This is why some households have been contacted by us with an update to their reconnection time.

“While we complete these essential network repairs, I encourage people to use the free hot meal provision we’re providing across affected communities, and to take advantage of our support package, by claiming reimbursement for accommodation and food if they’re eligible.”