Power cuts hit Caithness communities as engineers work to restore network
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Power outages are being reported in Dunnet and elsewhere in Caithness as Storm Babet is affecting power supplies across the Highlands.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said 19 postcode areas had been affected by the outage, which was reported at 4.06pm on Thursday.
It said 269 customers were understood to be affected in the following postcode areas: KW1 4UD, KW14 7RY, KW14 8AF, KW14 8AP, KW14 8SY, KW14 8SZ, KW14 8TA, KW14 8TD, KW14 8UA, KW14 8XF, KW14 8XN, KW14 8XP, KW14 8XQ, KW14 8XR, KW14 8XS, KW14 8XT, KW14 8XW, KW14 8YD, KW14 8YE.
The outages came after the start of Storm Babet, with warnings in place across the north for gales and wind gusts of up to 80mph expected to sweep across the north and north-east.
Earlier outages on the west coast of Sutherland are also being worked on by engineers, with power expected to be restored this evening to remaining properties there.
Further south, a series of outages are reported across Aberdeenshire, Moray and Inverness-shire.
With further strong winds to come, however, there is a danger of further problems over the next few days.
People can keep up to date at https://powertrack.ssen.co.uk/powertrack
SSEN has moved to yellow alert status ahead of the forecast period of strong winds and very heavy rain over the next few days. It said that Storm Babet is forecast to bring bad weather to much of the north of Scotland and Orkney between now and the weekend.
SSEN’s current weather model shows high winds forecast across the north-west Highlands, Caithness, Moray, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire, Stirlingshire and Orkney.
Areas could face gusts of up to 70mph, particularly on eastern coasts.
Very heavy rain is also forecast for much of Scotland between Thursday and Saturday.
SSEN's yellow status means that it is mobilising more teams to deal with any damage to the network and subsequent faults, which may impact customers’ power supplies.
Andy Smith, SSEN Distribution’s director of customer operations for the north of Scotland said: “We have been monitoring this severe and worsening weather for days now, and we have put plans in place to respond to the impact it may have.
"The additional teams we have in place will allow us to make repairs as quickly as the conditions allow us to do safely. We are also speaking to our most vulnerable customers directly, and we are sending helpful information to over 125,000 customers who are signed up to our Priority Services Register.”
