Power companies working at pace to reconnect affected households
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon chaired a further meeting of the Scottish Government’s Resilience Room (SGoRR) last night to co-ordinate the response to Storm Malik and Storm Corrie.
As the weather situation improves across the country, the amber warning for Scotland has now come to an end. A yellow warning is still in place covering Lewis, the Orkney Islands, much of the Highlands, Grampian and Tayside areas.
Of the 115,847 households that lost power as a result of both storms, all but around 7,000 are expected to be reconnected this evening. Power companies are confident that the vast majority of those affected should be reconnected by tomorrow, but recognise that there may still be some outages going into Wednesday.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “Today we have seen an improving situation across Scotland following the two very serious storms over the weekend. The power companies have drafted in a large number of additional engineers and are making significant inroads into reconnecting customers, with work continuing at pace this evening.
“I want to thank all those who are working in difficult conditions to keep people safe and maintain our lifeline services.
“For those who will unfortunately not have power tonight, support with alternative accommodation is available to anyone who needs it. Those who have found their own accommodation can seek reimbursement from their suppliers.
“Special arrangements remain in place for vulnerable customers and local resilience partnerships continue to work together to provide welfare support.”
Members of the public can track estimated power restoration times on the SSEN and SP Energy Networks websites.
Although storm #Malik will take its strong #winds away eastwards from the UK later today, another deep low pressure system just named #StormCorrie by the #MetOffice will bring further very unsettled weather, especially to Scotland later Sunday into Monday. Updates to follow pic.twitter.com/LprHK165Wf
A meeting of the Scottish Government’s Resilience Room (SGoRR) – chaired by the First Minister and attended by a number of Ministers – was held yesterday to ensure appropriate measures are in place to deal with the impacts of Storm Malik and Storm Corrie.
Following Saturday’s Amber weather warning and the disruption caused as a result of Storm Malik, a further Amber Warning for the North of Scotland and a Yellow Weather Warning for the rest of the country is in place for Storm Corrie, which is expected to bring more very strong winds across Scotland, particularly the Western Isles, Highlands, Grampian and Tayside areas, through Sunday evening and into Monday morning .
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “On behalf of the Scottish Government, I would like to offer sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of the lady who died in Aberdeen this morning.
“Damage has been widespread across the country but the intensity of the impact is being felt very much in the northeast of Scotland. SSEN have engineers out across the area and will continue to assess the damage caused to their network and the extent of repairs needed.
“We know that power has already been restored to more than 33,000 homes, but an estimated 53,000 customers remain without supply and unfortunately we think about 20,000 of these will probably still be off supply overnight. As Storm Malik will be followed shortly by Storm Corrie, disruption could last for a number of days.
“Local resilience partnerships are working to put in place welfare support for individuals who have lost power and there are many leisure centres in Aberdeenshire which are providing support for people. Some school catering facilities are also available and power companies have commissioned mobile catering companies.
“The Scottish Government’s resilience committee will continue to monitor the situation overnight and into tomorrow, and keep Ministers fully updated.
“We will remain in close contact with local authorities and the emergency services to ensure people in the affected areas receive the latest information, advice and support where needed.”
UPDATE 19:03pm
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has chaired a further meeting of the Scottish Government’s Resilience Room (SGoRR) to co-ordinate the response to Storm Malik and Storm Corrie.
An amber warning is in place for Storm Corrie covering the Western Isles, Highlands, Grampian and Tayside until 6am tomorrow and gusts of 60mph to 80mph will be widespread, with 90 mph gusts in exposed western areas.
Gusts of between 60mph and 70mph are likely across the rest of the country, where a Yellow warning remains in place until noon tomorrow and there is potential for property damage.
Of the 98,000 households that lost power as a result of Storm Malik, all but 7,500 are expected to be reconnected tonight after additional engineers were drafted in. However, for the remainder – mainly in Aberdeenshire – disruption could last until Tuesday.
Rail travel has been disrupted today with all services on the Inverness – Aberdeen and the Far North lines cancelled, while ScotRail stopped all services from 18:00 for safety purposes. It is expected most will resume tomorrow morning.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “Storm Malik caused significant damage on Saturday and Storm Corrie threatens to be similarly disruptive tonight. I urge everyone to heed the warnings, don’t travel unless you have to and stay safe. Remember, a Yellow warning does mean there are likely to be dangers.
“The power companies have drafted in a large number of additional engineers and are making significant inroads into reconnecting customers. However, we need to be aware that the arrival of Storm Corrie could hamper these efforts and add further problems.
“For those who will unfortunately not have power tonight, support with alternative accommodation is available to anyone who needs it. Special arrangements remain in place for vulnerable customers and local resilience partnerships continue to work with councils to provide welfare support.
“Rail services have been significantly impacted this weekend and will halt overnight. Whilst our expectation is that services will resume as soon as possible on Monday, people should check the ScotRail and Traffic Scotland channels for travel updates before leaving home.
“Safety is our number one priority. Ministers are being kept updated and will take further action as necessary. In the meantime I thank all those who are working in difficult conditions to keep people safe and maintain our lifeline services.”
Background
Follow @metoffice for any updates to the weather warnings in place.
