People warned they could be without power for 48 hours due to Storm Otto
Winds as high as 80mph were recorded across parts of north and north east Scotland on Friday.
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Your support makes all the difference.Some people have been warned they could be without power for more than 48 hours after Storm Otto swept across the country, leading to travel disruption and school closures.
Winds as high as 80mph were recorded across parts of north and north east Scotland on Friday and thousands of homes were left without power.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution said that as of 4.30pm on Friday, electricity supplies had been successfully restored to more than 27,000 properties, with around 16,000 still cut off.
SSEN said it expects its teams to continue to make significant progress in restoring power to customers into Friday evening.
We would like to apologise to all those affected by the impact of Storm Otto
However, it warned some customers in rural areas may be off supply for more than 48 hours.
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.
Mark Rough, operations director at SSEN Distribution, said: “We continue to make good progress restoring power to those homes impacted by Storm Otto and we would like to thank our customers for their ongoing patience and understanding as our teams do everything they can to reconnect supplies as soon as possible.
“Whilst we expect to make significant progress restoring those still off supply throughout the remainder of today and into the evening, due to the widespread and extensive damage caused to our network, alongside ongoing challenges accessing faults due to fallen trees and road closures, some customers will remain off supply for over 48 hours, particularly those in rural locations.
“We continue to work closely with our resilience partners to support our customers as required, particularly those on our Priority Services Register, and are now ramping up our welfare provisions, including deploying food vans to the main areas still affected.
“We would like to apologise to all those affected by the impact of Storm Otto and I’d like to reassure our customers we’re doing everything we can to restore power as quickly as possible. I’d encourage anyone who may need additional support to contact our dedicated teams on the power cut helpline, 105.”
The areas affected are mainly concentrated in Aberdeenshire, including parts of Hatton, Huntly, Insch, Maud, Mintlaw, Banchory and surrounding areas, as well as rural Moray and pockets of customers across the Highlands.
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.
Phil Campbell, ScotRail’s head of customer operations, said: “ScotRail services on routes across the country have been impacted by the severe weather conditions of Storm Otto.
“Teams are working around the clock to deal with any weather-related incidents quickly and efficiently.
“We ask customers who are planning to travel to check their journey before they leave for the station, and to keep an eye on our website, app or social media feeds for live updates.”
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.