Thousands of homes in Scotland without power for second night after Storm Floris

Thousands of homes in Scotland were without power for a second night in the aftermath of Storm Floris.

The amber weather warning was issued for much of the country on Monday, with travel routes on rail, road and ferry journeys facing significant disruption.

“Unseasonably” strong winds brought gusts of 82mph in Wick, and significant impact was felt on Scotland’s Railway, including damage to overhead lines and trees falling on tracks.

On Tuesday, 22,000 properties in the north and north east of Scotland were without power but 50,000 were restored.

Scotland

Power restored to more than 60,000 homes after Storm Floris causes ‘considerable’ damage

The amber weather warning was issued for much of the country on Monday.

In an update on Wednesday, SSEN said 68,000 customers had been reconnected but work continues to reconnect an additional 3,900 homes.

More than 500 of SSEN’s engineers and field staff, including teams who have travelled up from SSEN’s south of England network region, are being assisted by around 200 people from contract partners and other network operators

Hundreds of engineers have been out on the network since first light, with 95% of customers who lost supplies due to the storm now reconnected.

SSEN said its network had been “significantly affected” in many areas, particularly in the Highlands, the Moray coast, and Aberdeenshire.

SSEN’s director of customer operations for the north of Scotland, Andy Smith, said on Tuesday: “Storm Floris has been unusually powerful, especially for a storm at this time of year. It’s brought down many trees that have endured several previous storms, and it’s caused some network damage.

“Today, we’ve been able to inspect the network from the air and from the ground, and we now have a complete picture of the extent of the damage.

“There’s a considerable ongoing task to restore all customers’ supplies, but we have an 800-strong team whose priority is to make repairs as safely and quickly as they can, keep customers updated, and support those awaiting reconnection.

“I’d like to thank our customers for their understanding and patience while we go about this massive task; we’re doing our best to give people realistic, informed estimates of when we’ll get their power back on.

“I’m also grateful to the teams from our contract partners and other network operators for supporting our effort.”