Scotland weather: Thousands still without power after Storm Otto brings chaos

About 2,000 homes which lost power during Storm Otto had still not been reconnected to the grid on Saturday morning.

The Met Office said the storm has “well and truly cleared” but around 2,000 homes in Aberdeenshire remain without power.

More than 40,000 properties were left without power in Scotland, with around 7,600 still cut off as of 9pm on Friday.

The forecasting body said the storm, which left more than 60,000 homes without power, has moved onto the continent and is now affecting Scandinavia.

EDITORS NOTE: NUMBER PLATE PIXELATED BY PA PICTURE DESK AS REQUESTED Handout photo of a fallen tree on a car in Aberfeldy, Scotland, as a result of storm Otto. The storm, the first to be named this winter, has been labelled Otto by the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) and is expected to bring disruption to travellers across northern areas of the UK. Issue date: Friday February 17, 2023. PA Photo. See PA story WEATHER Storm. Photo credit should read: PA/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution said it expected its teams to continue to make significant progress in restoring power to customers into Friday evening, but warned some customers in rural areas may be off supply for more than 48 hours.

Mark Rough, operations director at SSEN Distribution, said: “Despite the extreme weather conditions throughout this morning and ongoing challenges gaining access to faults, our teams have made excellent progress restoring power to those homes impacted by Storm Otto and we would like to thank all customers impacted for their ongoing patience and understanding.”

SSEN said engineers will be back out from sunrise on Saturday to continue work restoring power, with additional support being drafted in from network operators and contractors across the country.

The areas affected are mainly concentrated in Aberdeenshire, including parts of Longside, Mauld, Insch, as well as rural Moray and pockets of customers across the Highlands.

SSEN said mobile food vans had been deployed to the main areas still off supply, and will begin serving food again from 8am on Saturday.

The Met Office had issued yellow weather warnings for wind covering the whole of Scotland and a stretch of north and north-east England, running from Sheffield to the Scottish border, which expired early on Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, schools in some parts of Scotland were closed due to the conditions, with the Highlands and Aberdeenshire among the areas affected.

In Angus, schools are closed for the mid-term break, but the council tweeted that the roof of Burnside Primary School in Carnoustie had been damaged by the high winds and the school will remain closed to pupils next week.

Aberdeenshire Council warned of several road closures and said that some schools were shut, while several GP practices were operating emergency services only as they have no power.

Rail services were also affected due to the storm, with ScotRail implementing an emergency timetable.

And Police Scotland urged drivers to take “extra care”.

A yellow warning for snow and ice has been issued from 11pm on Friday night until 9am on Saturday.

The warning covers parts of Central Scotland, Tayside and Fife, Grampian, the Highlands and Western Isles and Strathclyde.