Power cuts hit thousands of homes after Storm Malik strikes

A second storm, named Corrie, is set to bring gusts of up to 90mph in exposed coastal locations in northern Scotland.

A fallen tree blocks a road in Woodlesford in West Yorkshire, as gusts of up to 80mph could batter northern areas of the UK this weekend as Storm Malik sweeps in (Danny Lawson/PA) (PA Wire)

Around 80,000 customers have been affected by power cuts and up to 16,000 customers are still without power, a day after the devastation of Storm Malik saw strong winds batter parts of the UK and two people were killed by falling trees.

Northern Powergrid said those affected are living in Northumberland and County Durham and warned that some people will be without power on Sunday as Storm Corrie is expected to bring another blast of strong winds.

Storm Corrie is set to bring gusts of up to 90mph in exposed coastal locations in northern Scotland, and gusts of 70-80mph gusts in the north, according to the Met Office.

Northern Powergrid director Paul Glendinning, said: “We have successfully restored supplies to more than 60,000 customers but given the amount of work that there is to do and the fact that we are expecting more high winds during Sunday afternoon, we think that it is likely that a relatively small proportion of our customers will remain without power beyond Sunday night.”

Andy Bilclough, Northern Powergrid’s director of field operations, said: “We still have a lot to do but we have a large team out there now in what are currently perfect conditions for the kind of work we do.

“Storm Corrie is a concern but we’re going to get as much done as we can today for as long as it is safe to do so.”

Road closures, fallen trees and power lines are down in parts of County Durham on Sunday where a major incident was declared to deal with the devastation caused by Storm Malik.

Durham County Council tweeted: “We are continuing our clean up efforts following the impact of #StormMalik.

“Our teams are out again today clearing blocked roads, footpaths, and debris to keep our county open.”

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said that Storm Malik caused “significant damage” to its network and had left around 18,000 customers without supply as of Sunday at 11am.

Rural Aberdeenshire is among the hardest hit areas and some customers in Angus, the Highlands, the Moray Coast and Perthshire are still waiting for supplies to be restored.

SSEN warned that the double blow of Storms Malik and Corrie could mean that some customers, particularly those in rural Aberdeenshire, may have to wait until the early part of next week before supply problems are fixed.

Richard Gough, of SSEN, said: “Our teams continue to make good progress restoring power to customers impacted by yesterday’s extreme weather event, with a further 5,000 customers restored overnight and into this morning.

“Whilst we expect to restore power to a significant number of homes still impacted by Storm Malik throughout the course of today, due to the extent of damage caused, coupled with the expected impact of Storm Corrie, we expect the full restoration of customer supplies from both storms to extend into the early part of next week.

“We are therefore reminding all customers who remain off supply that they may want to consider making alternative arrangements, where possible.”

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Twitter that some people – particularly those in the north-east of the country – could be without power until Tuesday.

“Just chaired another @scotgov resilience meeting on weather,” she said.

“There are amber/yellow @metoffice warnings in place for all of Scotland as Storm Corrie sets in – please heed the warnings and take care. Impacts from the storm are likely to be significant tonight & into tomorrow.

“Work to repair the damage from Storm Malik continues.

“Tens of thousands have had power reconnected already – however, many will remain off supply again tonight and some, especially in north east, could be off into Tuesday. Welfare arrangements are in place.

“Given the severity of the winds expected tonight, rail services are stopping at 6pm in the interests of safety.

“However, as far as possible, it is hoped that services will return to normal in the morning.”

ScotRail said all of its services are going to be withdrawn from Sunday at 6pm due to “very strong winds” in an effort to “protect passengers and railway staff, domestic ScotRail services”.

Network Rail Scotland, which said that “all parts of the railway are working together”, added that any other trains which are running on Sunday night will be limited to a maximum speed of 40mph and operators are looking at how this will hit journeys.

The Met Office has issued an amber and yellow weather warning for wind across northern parts of Scotland from Sunday into Monday morning.

It states that “flying debris is likely and could lead to Injuries or danger to life” while there may be some damage to trees and buildings, which could include tiles that have blown from roofs.

The Met Office said: “Storm Corrie will bring a spell of very windy weather later today and during Monday morning, particularly across northern parts of the UK.

“Damaging winds are likely to lead to travel disruption in places.”

Storm Corrie will likely cause some travel disruption and generate some “large and dangerous waves around the coasts”, the forecasters add.

A nine-year-old boy and a 60-year-old woman were killed as trees were torn down in dangerous gusts on Saturday.

Staffordshire Police said a man is in hospital after the incident which killed the boy.

Police were called to Hollington Road, Winnothdale, near to Tean, at 1pm on Saturday after reports that a tree had fallen on a boy and a man, and they were both taken to the Royal Stoke University Hospital.

The boy’s death came after a 60-year-old woman was killed by a falling tree in Aberdeen.

Wintry showers are also expected across northern parts of Scotland which could lead to ice on untreated surfaces, up to 1-2 cm of snow could fall in some areas which are above 200 metres, according to the Met Office.