Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution is now operating at Red Alert as its engineers battle hurricane force winds to restore power.
Winds of up to 113 mph in places have disrupted the electricity network, with technical staff now working in extremely challenging and potentially dangerous conditions to restore supply to 73,000 customers.
Since first light, supply has been restored to 24,000 customers as severe weather continues to batter much of northern and western Scotland.
A thousand technical and support staff were mobilised ahead of the storm, and some despatched to rural areas where the storm was likely to cause the most damage. Staff from SHEPD’s sister company in England have also been working in Scotland to restore supplies. Technical staff numbers have been further bolstered with the hiring of external contractors.
SHEPD’s Head of Operations, Rodney Grubb, apologised for the disruption: “We are doing everything we possibly can to restore our customers’ supplies. We apologise for the disruption and would like to thank customers for their patience and understanding.”
Rural areas and the Western Isles seem to have been the worst hit. These are the number of customers off supply at the moment:
| Area | Customers Affected |
| Aberdeenshire | 6300 |
| Buchan | 2107 |
| Rural areas around Dingwall | 13500 |
| Rural areas around Dunblane | 1922 |
| Rural areas around Dunoon | 1417 |
| Elgin/Huntly | 2878 |
| Rural areas around Fort William | 3500 |
| Inverness-shire | 9200 |
| Rural areas around Oban | 3834 |
| Orkney | 379 |
| Rural areas around Perth | 1441 |
| Skye | 6978 |
| Western Isles | 12289 |
| Rural areas around Wick | 7286 |
Keep an eye on SSEPD's live storm feed on their website for all of the latest updates.