Storm Otto: Final push to restore power to homes in Aberdeenshire

A car was damaged by a fallen tree in Aberfeldy

Engineers are making a final push to restore to power to properties following Storm Otto on Thursday.

More than 43,000 properties in the north of Scotland lost power during the storm. Fewer than 100 were still off supply on Sunday morning.

Scottish and Southern Energy Networks (SSEN) said its teams had worked through the night reconnect the remaining homes.

They are mainly isolated homes and hamlets in rural Aberdeenshire.

SSEN Distribution expects everyone to be reconnected by 18:00.

Mobile food vans serving hot food and drinks to those affected are in Maud and Turriff.

• Night without power for homes hit by Storm Otto

• Power cuts and schools closed as Storm Otto hits

Storm Otto, the first named storm of the season, was marked by high winds which brought down trees and damaged a number of vehicles and buildings.

Wind speeds in excess of 80mph were recorded in a number of places while at Cairngorm mountain the gusts reached 120mph.

Trains, buses and ferry services were delayed or cancelled, with trees blocking many routes in Aberdeenshire.

Mark Rough, operations director at SSEN Distribution, said: "After further progress reconnecting customers late last light, our teams have been back out since first light this morning in the final push to repair damage and restore power to those remaining customers who remain off supply.

"We expect to make good progress throughout the course of today and remain confident all customers will be back reconnected by this evening at the latest."

Chloe Alexander lost power in her house in Hatton at about 08:00

Chloe Alexander, who lives in a farmhouse in Hatton with her husband and two young children, said they lost power at about 08:00 on Friday morning.

They were also badly affected by Storm Arwen in November 2021.

"We've got an 18-month-old and a four-year-old to consider so it's mainly concern for them, keeping them warm, making sure they've got food," she told BBC Scotland on Saturday.

"A year and a half ago in November we had no power for four, five days from Storm Arwen so I didn't trust SSEN's response, in the sense that they couldn't provide any reassurance when the power would be back on.

"After last time they were giving reassurance every 24 hours and at that time my baby was five months old. Thankfully my in-laws are in Peterhead so we were able to go to my in-laws last night because I just didn't trust when the power would go on."

She added the communication and response from SSEN had been "a lot better" than in November 2021.

BBC Scotland Weather said gusts of 83mph had been recorded in Inverbervie, Aberdeenshire, and 80mph in Lossiemouth, Moray, and at Tain in the Highlands.

The storm was named Otto by the Danish Met Office. The UK Met Office has adopted the same name.

It is the first named storm to hit the UK since Franklin last February.

The Met Office's season for named storms runs from September to September, and the names are given to raise awareness of severe weather.