A MAN has been airlifted to safety after he was stranded on a sandbank in a river in stormy conditions.
A passer-by raised the alarm at about 10am on Saturday after spotting the man stuck under the Spey viaduct on the River Spey near Garmouth in Moray.
He was stranded on the sandbank and unable to reach the shore as river levels rose after heavy rain as Storm Amy swept across the country.
The coastguard said he was winched off the island by Coastguard Rescue Helicopter 151 from Inverness and flown to a place of safety.
He was said to be safe and well.
Coastguard teams from Buckie and Burghead and other emergency services were also called to the incident.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), the distribution network operator for the north of Scotland, said 42,000 homes remain without power following Storm Amy.
It said that as of 3.30pm on Saturday, the power is back on for more than 33,000 customers and work continues to reconnect the remaining 42,000 homes.
The company said hundreds of additional team members are working on SSEN’s response to the storm.
SSEN head of customer operations for the north of Scotland Nik Wheeler said: “I want to reassure our customers that every resource at our disposal is being directed at the reconnection operation and our efforts to ensure people are kept well informed and looked after while these essential repairs are carried out.”
