Thousands without power four days after Storm Eowyn

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Thousands without power four days after Storm Eowyn

Ashleigh Keenan-Bryce

BBC Scotland News

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Trees, like this one in Helensburgh, were brought down by hurricane-force winds across Scotland on Friday

Thousands of homes are still without power days after Storm Éowyn caused destruction across Scotland.

Scottish Power Energy Networks, which supplies central and southern Scotland, said about 9,000 homes had no supply on Sunday evening.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said it was still working to restore power to 4,700 homes, particularly in Argyll, Kintyre, and on island communities.

Public transport continues to face some disruptions but ScotRail said the vast majority of services are now operational.

The following routes will not reopen on Monday, according to Network Rail:

Kilwinning – Ayr/Largs/ArdrossanDalreoch – BallochAyr – StranraerPaisley CanalPaisley – Gourock/Wemyss Bay

Most schools are expected to re-open, though the Scottish government said about 20 will remain closed for repairs.

Following a meeting of the Scottish government’s resilience room, First Minister John Swinney said: “”The severity of the damage caused by this major event has had a considerable impact across a wide area of the country.

“While every effort has been made over the weekend to fully restore services, unfortunately it is clear some disruption can continue to be expected.”

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Reuters

Several buildings were damaged on Friday during a rare red weather warning including this property in Denny, Falkirk

At the storm’s peak, hurricane-force winds caused more than 280,000 homes to lose power across Scotland.

SSEN said customers have been provided with realistic updates on when they can expect supply to be restored with those awaiting reconnection urged to monitor SSEN’s

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The provider estimated all customers will be reconnected before the end of Monday.

It has also provided warm spaces, hot meals and drinks to people in several communities who have been impacted by the storm.

Andy Smith, SSEN director of customer operations for the north of Scotland, added: “Several hundred engineers are working hard right now to fix faults safely and quickly, and we’ve had a group arrive from the southeast of England on Sunday morning to support our own response.”

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Helensburgh leisure centre lost its roof during the storm

On the trains, ScotRail advised customers to expect a continued disruption of services.

Teams of Network Rail engineers have been checking routes through the night since Friday and carrying out repair work with around 500 individual incidents reported.

These include more than 120 trees on tracks, damaged overhead wires, power supply failures and other objects and debris blown onto the line.

David Ross, ScotRail communications director told BBC Radio’s

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programme it had been “a very challenging weekend” and there was “still significant impact across the country”.

He said: “A lot of work has been carried out over the course of the weekend by colleagues at Network Rail.

“The vast majority routes are up and running but there is still ongoing disruption is some parts of the country.”

He said in Ayrshire and Inverclyde damage to overhead wires are causing cancellations, overhanging trees in the Whifflet are causing disruption and trees are still falling onto the lines in Lanarkshire.

“Some parts of the country where we are only just finding in the last short time discovering further problems,” he added.

“It is a changing picture and it will change over the course of the morning again.”

He warned some damage won’t be a “quick fix” and disruption could last a few days.

Ferry operator CalMac has cancelled sailings between Ardrossan and Brodick on Monday with other sailings facing possible disruptions.

Passengers are advised to

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before travelling.

Police Scotland responded to almost 1,900 weather-related incidents across the country over the weekend with some roads closed or disrupted due to debris and fallen trees.

A 19-year-old man was

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when his car was struck by a fallen tree.

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#Thousands #power #days #Storm #Eowyn

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