Thousands of people across Scotland are facing another night with no power after Storm Gerrit battered the country.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution restored electricity supply to more than 40,000 properties as of 4.45pm on Thursday as its workers faced winds of up to 80mph.
But some 2,900 households remain without any power with 1,080 of those in the north east.
In Argyll and West Highlands, 818 homes have no electricity, with 337 in Highlands, 365 in Shetland and 464 in Tayside and Central all experiencing a power outage.
SSEN said it expects around 1,500 customers will be offline until Friday.
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.
Andy Smith, operations director at SSEN, said: “We’ve made the most of a lull in the stormy weather today to get thousands of our customers reconnected.
“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.
“We’ve targeted our restoration plan on repairing the faults that will reconnect the greatest number of customers, and those who have been without power the longest.
“Where there are complex repairs or very localised faults, we expect around 1,500 homes will be without power until Friday.
“I’d like to reassure our customers that all our resources have been made available for this final push.”
Those who need help or advice can phone the power outage helpline on 105.
Storm Gerrit has caused blizzards and flooding across parts of the country causing damage to homes and prompting travel chaos.
Trains north of Perth and Dundee were cancelled on Thursday morning while several routes between Aberdeen, Dundee and Inverness were shut down.
Drivers face tough conditions across Scotland’s roads with several trapped for hours on the A9 which was closed at Drumotcher in the Highlands due to snow.
The A9 has since reopened, including a section further north at Scrabster which had been blocked by fallen trees.
The A82 between Spean bridge and Invergarry has also reopened, but the road between Invergarry and Invermoriston remains closed.
The A96 at Huntly, Aberdeenshire, is also closed.
And six people were rescued from vehicles stuck in flood water in Banchory.
@stvnews Waves crash onto coastal roads amid strong winds in wake of Storm Gerrit. #stvnews #scotland #stormgerrit
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Stein Connelly, head of transport resilience at Transport Scotland, urged people to plan ahead when travelling.
He said: “It’s been an extremely challenging period for the transport network. The partnership response to Storm Gerrit continues and our trunk road operating companies are working hard to open roads as soon as possible.
“On the A96 at Huntly, the road remains closed in both directions due to flooding, with teams continuing to work to clear the water this morning.
“The weather has improved and the Met Office warnings have ended, but people may still encounter difficult driving conditions due to surface water and flooding.
“We continue to ask people to plan ahead, to drive appropriately and to take care out on the road network.
“Public transport services remain impacted, so please check with your transport operator across all modes to understand if your service has been cancelled or delayed.”
Ferry operator CalMac announced a series of cancellations, delays and time changes to a number of services on Thursday and Friday.
Routes affected include Ardrossan-Brodick and Fionnphort-Iona.
Passengers are advised to check for updates on CalMac’s X account.
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