Engineers have reconnected the final homes in Aberdeenshire that were cut off from their electricity supply by last weekend’s storms, energy company SSEN has announced.
At 6pm, Aberdeenshire Council said 30 properties still did not have access – though engineers were hoping to rectify the situation “as quickly and safely as possible”.
Around 120,000 homes were left without power across the north of Scotland last weekend, as Storm Malik and Storm Corrie damaged power lines across the region.
As was the case with Storm Arwen at the end of November last year, rural Aberdeenshire was among the worst-affected spots in the country.
A video shared on SSEN‘s social media accounts shows the impact of the weather on power lines near Drumlithie.
Here's a video captured by one of our Tree Cutters in rural Aberdeenshire as he assessed the damage caused by the weekend storms and worked to remove fallen trees so repairs to the network could begin. As you can see, our team had their work cut out! pic.twitter.com/lUsHttZJCK
— ssencommunity (@ssencommunity) February 3, 2022
By this morning, the company’s engineers had repaired all the faults recorded as being caused by Malik, with the few dozen remaining power failures a result of Corrie.
Commenting on the Facebook post saying power was fully restored, Ballater pub owner Avril Meston said: “Thank you from both of us at Coilacriech Inn!
“Your service has been fantastic……from the engineers on the ground (heroes in hard hats) to the communications personnel, you’re amazing.”
Record wind speeds in north-east
SSEN said Storm Malik’s power was largely concentrated in the north-east, while Corrie was more spread across the north of Scotland – though places such as Stonehaven and Edzell experienced record wind speeds during the latter.
The company’s high voltage network was hit by more than 450 faults, as fallen trees and other debris hit overhead power lines.
As a result, it received more than 46,000 calls to its Customer Contact Centre and 13,000 messages through its various social media channels.
Richard Gough, Director of Distribution System Operations at SSEN, said: “I would like to thank our communities for their continued patience as our teams have worked hard to restore power in challenging circumstances.
“Coming just weeks after the extensive damage caused by Storm Arwen, the dual impact of Storms Malik and Corrie posed a significant and unique challenge, with often complex repairs being undertaken while battling conditions and balancing priorities.
“I’d also like to recognise the remarkable efforts of teams from SSEN, other electricity network companies and contract partners across the UK and Ireland, whose hard work in very challenging conditions has helped us to restore power safely to communities across the North of Scotland and ensured our customers were supported.
“Equally, the close co-operation with local resilience partners, who did a fantastic job in supporting customers and communities on the ground, has been great to see.”
The company has asked that people avoid approaching any damaged infrastructure they might spot, and instead report it by calling 105.