Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Farmer’s wife praises Kintore community for helping to look after cattle following Storm Arwen

Communities have been pulling together in the aftermath of Storm Arwen

A farmer’s wife has thanked the community for helping to keep their cows watered in the aftermath of Storm Arwen.

Audrey and Garry Stewart have been without power since Friday after raging winds and rain battered the north-east.

But while the family is managing to keep themselves warm with their log-burner – which they’re also using to make toast – their bigger worry was the herd of cattle Mr Stewart looks after.

Mrs Stewart, from Kintore, said: “There’s a lot of cows in the sheds now, a few hundred probably. They’re inside and they need a constant supply of water.

“We’ve had none and no electric to get the pumps working, so the cows had no water.

“Luckily, we’ve a kind neighbour who has loaned us a generator so we were able to get the pump started to get some water to the cows.”

Adapting to new conditions

Mr and Mrs Stewart have no idea how much longer they will be cut off, but praised the wider community for rallying together.

Aberdeenshire Council has advised it will take “several days” for all communities to be reconnected to power, and SSEN are working round-the-clock to repair the damage.

Earlier today, the Scottish Government’s response to the storm was declared a “monumental failure”, with North East Tory MSP Douglas Lumsden claiming communities had been left facing a “wall of silence”.

In the meantime, communities have come together – throwing open the doors of village halls to offer hot soups and snacks.

Catering vans serving hot food have been set up in a number of locations across Aberdeenshire, including Braemar, Turriff, Aboyne and Alford.

Food vans are providing hot food to people without power across Aberdeenshire. This one is located at the Kintore Primary School car park. Picture: Chris Sumner/DCT Media.

But Mrs Stewart said it has been hard to know what help is available as most of the information is being shared online, leaving many people who are cut-off having to rely on word of mouth.

“You can see the lights on over in Tyrebagger and I’m like ‘Oh they’ve got power’,” she said.

“We went down to the burger van in Kintore on Sunday to get some hot food, but it would have been good to have better communication to let us know it was there.”

Friends and family have been ‘fantastic’

Mrs Stewart, who works in a school, admitted she was feeling cut off from the world, adding: “It’s hard, they’re doing their best, but it would be nice to know more.

“It’ll be good to know what’s going on in the world, who else is affected, we feel so isolated. It’s strange, the silence. I had some music playing on my phone but I don’t want to use up the battery either.

“Friends and family have been great though. Somebody dropped off big bottles of water and there’s the generator we were given to get water sorted out for the animals. They’ve been fantastic.”

Fallen trees have blocked roads across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire since Friday. Picture: Kenny Elrick/DCT Media.

Fallen trees across the north-east

Roads were closed across the north-east due to fallen trees which also struck the Stewart family’s farmland.

“A large branch just missed the shed and a tractor when it fell down. There have been a lot of trees down on the farm, but no buildings damaged this time, luckily,” Mrs Stewart said.

“My husband and son were out on Saturday taking trees off the road for cars.”

Charlie Heron, who lives nearby, was also out over the weekend helping to clear the roads.

The 78-year-old said: “There were power lines and trees over the road which needed cleared to let the traffic flow. If someone needs help, I’ll help them. That’s the way it is in the country.”

While he has still has a gas supply at home to keep the stove and heating going, Mr Heron’s home has been without power and hot water since Friday.

He added: “There are folk an awful lot worse off. We just survive.”