POWER cuts have been reported across the Highlands and a number of islands – the areas facing some of the worst weather from Storm Amy.
Fraser Wilson from the Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks spoke on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme on where he said the network was working to restore power on Saturday morning.
He said that 100mph winds had affected power and while some people had their power restored there were still thousands without it.
He said: “Work will continue this morning to get 62,000 people reconnected. We expect because of the extent of damage to the network and conditions we are still going to be facing today that this will take some time, this storm is not over by any means.”
Around 100,000 properties were still without power as a cleanup after Storm Amy got under way across the island of Ireland on Saturday.
Irish police reported that a man died during the storm which also brought localised flooding, fallen trees, transport disruption and school closures.
Republic of Ireland forecasting agency Met Eireann put its highest-level warning in place for Donegal between 4pm and 6pm on Friday.
An Garda Siochana said they were treating an incident where a man was seriously injured in the Letterkenny area of the county, shortly after 4.15pm, as weather-related.
Gardai later said he had died and his body was removed to the morgue at Letterkenny University Hospital, where a post-mortem examination will be carried out in due course.
The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) and NIE Networks said that there were hundreds of thousands without power across the island at the height of the storm’s impact.
That number had fallen to just below 100,000 before 9am on Saturday, with 22,000 without power in Northern Ireland and 87,000 in the Republic of Ireland.
Crews have warned it could take days before power is restored to every customer.
On Sunday, the north, north-east, Orkney and Shetlands islands will also continue to fall under a yellow warning for wind until 9am that morning.
Mark Ilderton, ScotRail service delivery director, said there will be “considerable disruption” to train services on Saturday.
He said: “We’re sorry to customers who have been impacted by the disruption caused by Storm Amy.
“Network Rail and ScotRail teams will work flat out to recover services as quickly as possible, but considerable disruption will continue through Saturday morning.
“We’re advising customers to check their journey before they travel via the ScotRail website, mobile app, or social media feeds.”
Network Rail said the storm had a greater impact than predicted.
The transport organisation said: “Storm Amy has hit parts of the country much harder and more quickly than expected.
“We have experienced over 60 incidents on the network during the first two hours of the storm, with flooding, trees falling on to the overhead lines and debris on the tracks.
“The safety of passengers and colleagues is priority, which is why all services to and from Glasgow Central have been suspended at this time.
“We have crews out surveying damage where it is safe to do so and we will do our best to clear lines overnight, but we do expect some disruption tomorrow morning.
“We apologise to people who were wishing to travel tonight and now need to make alternative arrangements.”
