Engineers still working to restore power after Storm Amy

Three men in hi-vis jackets working on a power line. One man is in the foreground wearing a yellow hard hat with the word 'electricity' on the back of his jacket. Another man is standing under a pylon holding a long pole. A third man is half way up the pole and is leaning back. The sky is grey.
Image caption,

SSEN engineers worked to restore power to thousands of homes on Sunday

Engineers are still working to restore power to homes left without electricity following Storm Amy.

About 1,900 properties remain disconnected three days after the first named storm of the season hit the country, mostly in pockets in the Great Glen, Fort William area and the Ardmamurchan peninsula.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said power had been restored to about 86,000 properties since storm-force winds began on Friday.

SSEN said "several hundred" engineers were working to reconnect affected homes on Monday.

The firm said a team of arborists were supporting engineers in clearing trees and debris felled by the winds.

Stirling and Strathallan MP Chris Kane said power cuts in his area meant some rural residents could not make 999 calls as BT had moved them from copper landlines to a new internet-based system.

Network Rail said trains between Fort William and Glasgow would not be able to run due to "external power supply issues," while the Wick line also remains closed.

The Kyle line reopened on Monday morning after debris had been cleared from the area.

Network Rail said 30 trees had been brought down on a seven-mile stretch of the line and a helicopter was used to spot obstructions from the air.

ScotRail said a shuttle service would run between Inverness and Dingwall and urged passengers to check before setting off on their journeys.

The Tay Road Bridge was closed to double decker buses on Monday morning.

In Elgin, Moray Council said Portknockie Primary School was closed due to the energy supplier not being able to give a timescale for power to be restored.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said a risk of "some localised impacts" from rivers and surface water in the north west remained on Monday due to rain falling on wet ground.

A tree lying across train tracks viewed from a helicopter. The trunk of the tree is light-coloured. It has green leaves. It is stretched across a dark coloured railway track.Image source, Network Rail
Image caption,

Network Rail said teams had used helicopters to find parts of the Kyle line where trees had fallen

Ross Easton, head of communications for SSEN, told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland he expected the majority of homes remaining without power to be reconnected by Monday evening.

He said those still waiting for power to be reinstated were in the path of the storm, between the Isle of Mull and the Great Glen.

Mr Easton said engineering teams had been drafted in from across the UK.

More than £100m had been invested in the SSEN network to protect it from future storms, he added.

Mr Easton said: "Our own records show these storms are becoming more frequent and we have to work with our regulator Ofgem about the investment that is required going forward.

"Our focus today is getting those remaining customers reconnected as quickly as possible, keeping them informed and making sure they are looked after."

A tree which has been pulled out of the ground by wind lying on top of a roof in Balnain near Drumnadrochit.
Image caption,

A tree fell onto a house in Balnain near Drumnadrochit during Storm Amy

Gusts of about 96mph were recorded in the Inner Hebrides during the peak of the storm.

The Met Office had put a yellow weather alert in place until midnight on Friday, while another for strong winds in the north east lasted until midday on Sunday.

Forecasters said Storm Amy had set a new record for the deepest area of low pressure - which can cause seriously unsettled conditions - in the UK in October.