Schools to close for two days after area badly hit by Storm Arwen

Schools in Aberdeenshire are set to close on Monday and Tuesday after the area was badly hit by Storm Arwen.

Aberdeenshire Council confirmed on Sunday evening that schools in the area would close to both pupils and staff due to the ongoing weather issues.

Angus Council later announced that 11 primary schools would close on Monday due to power failures or building safety issues.

NHS Grampian said that vaccination centres in Aberdeenshire would close on Monday and urged patients to rearrange appointments.

Meanwhile thousands of homes are facing the prospect of a third night without power, with water supplies also affected by the storm.

Scottish Water said around 3000 homes were still without water supplies, with the company adding it was handing out bottled water to affected customers.

Energy firm SSE said it may take “several days” before power is fully restored to homes, adding the damage caused by Storm Arwen was ‘three times greater’ than the Beast from the East in 2018.

The company urged people to make alternative arrangements as work continued to restore power, adding that vulnerable customers can contact 105 for assistance.

Mark Rough from SSE, 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 this morning giving advance notice to customers who remain off supply, particularly those in rural and isolated communities, that it may take several days before power is restored.

“Those customers may therefore want to consider making alternative arrangements where possible.”

On Saturday night, SSE urged customers who are without power for a second night to ‘order a takeaway’ on them.

The energy company made the offer as tens of thousands of homes faced the prospect of a second night without electricity.

Spokesman Greg Clarke said: “We would encourage customers who are off supply to get themselves a takeaway, keep the receipt and we will look to reimburse them in full as a result of the fact that they are without power.”

On Sunday, the deputy first minister chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government’s Resilience Room on the impact of Storm Arwen.

John Swinney said that recovery from the storm would be more challenging than first anticipated.

Swinney said: “The scale of the damage caused by Storm Arwen is worse than we first feared and as a result our recovery will take longer than anticipated.

“We know this will create significant challenges for communities and households still affected by the storm’s impacts and I want to reassure them we are doing everything we can, liaising with local resilience partnerships, to focus efforts and resources.

“We have been working closely and at pace with power companies who are maximising efforts to restore services to households currently without power. Plans are being put in place for further assistance to respond to the longer than expected recovery and we are concentrating getting power restored for vulnerable people and those who need it most.

“In extremely challenging circumstances we have seen an outstanding response from local resilience partnerships who have been providing vital support to local residents and I would like to thank them for their continuing efforts.”