Race to reconnect black-out homes

Homes throughout Scotland were in blackout yesterday after winds on Wednesday approaching speeds of 90mph caused widespread damage to power networks.

At the height of the extreme weather, homes from Argyll to the Borders were left with no electricity, but energy firms drafted in extra engineers from England and Wales to carry out emergency repairs.

Several hundred homes were still without power yesterday afternoon, but suppliers said they were working “flat out” to ensure everyone was reconnected last night.

Scottish Hydro, part of power giant Scottish Southern Electric, said around 1,000 homes were left without power overnight into yesterday, with the majority of those affected in the Argyll area. The firm said generators were being deployed where possible to restore supplies.

Samantha O’Connor, a spokeswoman for the company, said “excellent progress” was made on Wednesday, with supplies restored to most of its customers that night.

More than 100 engineers were assessing damage done to the network yesterday before carrying out further repairs.

She added: “For those who have remained off overnight, we have drafted in additional engineers to assist with repairs.”

Nearly 900 ScottishPower customers were also left without power following the severely windy conditions.

Paul Ferguson, a spokesman for the firm, said: “We had some damage to the network on Wednesday, with the worst affected areas being Dumfries, the Borders and Lanarkshire. Across the network, we had about 800 to 900 customers off power overnight.

“We had extra engineers out this morning, some of them from Merseyside and north Wales, and we’re working flat out over the course of the day to get everybody back. There are still a few hundred customers in Dumfries and the Borders affected, but we’re hoping to get them back on by Thursday night.”

The severe winds, which reached up to 87mph on the Tay Road Bridge, caused travel disruption on the roads, as well as causing ferry operators and airlines to cancel scheduled crossings and flights.

The power of the gusts saw the Met Office issue an amber warning for much of the country.

Although the weather had given way to less severe conditions yesterday, winds reached speeds of around 50mph in places.

High winds forced the Skye Bridge to close in both directions to high-sided vehicles. In Stirling, there were delays due to flooding and temporary traffic lights on the A811 in Drymen at the B858 Drymen Bridge junction. The A89 Graham Street in Airdrie was closed in both directions between the Baillies Lane junction and the Gartlea Road junction because of a dangerous building.

On the rail network, poor weather led to the disruption of ScotRail services at Oban, while journeys between Kilwinning and Largs were disrupted due to overhead wire problems.

Caledonian MacBrayne was forced to cancel crossings from Fionnphort to Iona, while 14 other services operated by the company were subject to disruption. Northlink advised its customers of “minor delays” to its services in the Pentland Firth.