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Transport chaos and schools closed as Gertrude blows through – with snow to follow

Storm Gertrude coupled with a high tide brought some flooding to the normally sheltered Oban bay. Picture by Steven Lawson
Storm Gertrude coupled with a high tide brought some flooding to the normally sheltered Oban bay. Picture by Steven Lawson

The north was put on red alert yesterday as hurricane winds left thousands of homes without power and caused travel chaos.

A gust of 105mph was recorded at Lerwick as Storm Gertrude battered the region.

All flights and ferries in and out of Shetland were cancelled while all the islands’ schools – as well as those in Orkney and the Western Isles – were closed.

Many schools across the Highlands were also shut – while emergency crews dealt with string of weather-related incidents caused by the weather, including flying roof tiles hitting cars in Ullapool.

And there is little respite in sight as heavy snow is forecast for today and torrential rain and gales are expected to arrive on Monday.

A man being cut free from his car on the A82 after a collision involving another vehicle on Inverness-Fort William route near Loch Ness.

The A82 was also blocked further south yesterday morning after a landslide near Loch Lochy in Lochaber.

Fire crews from Fortrose had to deal with a fallen tree at Avoch on the Black Isle which had severed electrical cables.

The fire service, Highland Council and Bear Scotland teams cleared hundreds of fallen trees from many of the north’s roads, with the A87 near Cluanie Dam being particularly badly affected.

The majority of ferry firm CalMac’s west coast fleet remained stormbound in port.

And hardly any trains ran yesterday, with the Highland Main Line between Inverness and Perth expected to remain closed into today because of concerns about the Dalguise Viaduct in Perthshire amid rising river levels.

A Network Rail spokesman said the crossing would need to be checked by divers before the line could reopen.

At the height of the storm yesterday more than 12,000 homes across Scotland were left without power, with engineers battling to restore supplies throughout the day.

Dale Cargill, director of Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution, said: “If anybody has concerns for their own safety, or the welfare of their friends or family before or during the storm, we would urge them to contact us and we’ll do everything we can to help them.”

A Met Office spokeswoman said the highest wind speeds were recorded in Lerwick at 105mph and South Uist at 91mph.

She described the conditions as “pretty extraordinary”.

The fastest wind recorded anywhere was a 144mph gust at the summit of Cairn Gorm.

The winds were accompanied by heavy rain, with nearly an inch falling in just six hours yesterday morning at a weather station near the Cluanie Inn.

In the Western Isles several hundred pounds worth wind damage was caused at the Maybury Garden Centre in Sandwick on Lewis.

The garden centre’s Irene Smith was forced to stand back and watch as fierce gusts ripped off the cover of a polytunnel, just recently replaced after being wrecked in a storm last year.

Mrs Smith said: “This is just saddening. I slept through the storm in the night but then my husband David and I had to watch on as the cover went. I think it will cost hundreds of pounds to replace.”