'Storm Amy knocked out power for six days - it can't happen again'

Anna MacDonald was unable to make her pottery for five days after power was knocked out by Storm Amy

Residents in a remote part of the west Highlands whose power supply was cut off during Storm Amy fear they could be left in the dark again by future extreme weather events.

Some households in Ardnamurchan were without power for six days when the first named storm of the season battered the country last month.

The chair of West Ardnamurchan Community Council said residents felt "abandoned" by energy distribution firm Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN).

A spokesperson for the company, which manages the power grid in the north of Scotland, said it was working with the local community to boost resilience.

Villages on the Ardnamurchan peninsula, the most westerly point on the British mainland, were some of the worst impacted by the storm in early October.

SSEN provided welfare vans offering hot food and facilities to villagers affected.

But for those in Kilchoan, on the west side of the peninsula, the nearest van was located in Acharacle, about 20 miles away on a single-track road.

Rosie Curtis, chairwoman of the West Ardnamurchan Community Council, was among those affected in the village, which has a population of about 150.

She said there had been a lack of communication from SSEN on when engineers would arrive to reconnect supplies.

"We felt abandoned. I know there were thousands of homes that were without power," she said.

"But all we needed was someone at the other end of the phone to say 'ok, Ardnamurchan, we know where you are, we'll get there as soon as we can'.

"But six days is a long time without our facilities."

Ms Curtis added: "I know you can't predict what the weather is, and that is something we are going to have to live with, but I think, from their point of view, all we're asking for is better communication."

Rosie Curtis said residents felt abandoned by SSEN during the storm last month

Anna McDonald, who owns the Eòrna Pottery studio in Kilchoan, said her business had been affected by the outage.

She said work on her handmade ceramics ground to a halt until the power could be reconnected.

Ms McDonald said: "I was unable to fire the kiln, I couldn't throw anything on the wheel, both are powered by electricity.

"That's the main bulk of my work as a potter so it had a huge impact.

"If it is something that keeps happening, it definitely will affect my business."

SSEN tree-felling teams have been cutting down trees near power lines

A spokesman for SSEN said its distribution team met with residents in Ardnamurchan on Thursday to discuss how resilience could be improved.

Nik Wheeler, head of SSEN's customer operations in the north of Scotland, said: "We go through a regular sequence after a storm to see what we could do better.

"That is something we have taken from Storm Amy to say 'what can we do, where can we contact communities before events?'.

"The challenge there is that something might not happen for multiple years after it, so it's about keeping that refreshed to know where the best place to provide those facilities."

Mark Beaman said proactive work to fell trees near power lines was ongoing

SSEN announced plans for a £33bn investment into Scotland's energy grid over the next five years earlier this week.

The company said it was also taking a proactive approach to preventative measures in anticipation of future storms.

Mark Beaman, performance manager of SSEN's tree cutting team, observed branches on some trees near power lines in the Glen Livet area being felled.

He said: "This kind of activity is going on year in, year out to make sure the network is as resilient as possible and will stand up to weather events to make sure power is not interrupted."