Fresh power outages as third storm strikes
FRESH reports of power outages were being made in the local area this morning after the third storm in four days hit the area.
Thousands of people were still without power yesterday evening, and the blackout in some places has now dragged into a fourth day.
At the last update, at 4pm yesterday, around 8900 people remained without power.
SSE hoped to have many, if not all, of those restored by midnight last night.
But with fresh gales now battering the area, further power outages have instead been reported.
Some postcodes in on the south side of Loch Ness went dark at around 5.30am this morning, with further outages also affecting some homes in Nairn-shire (5.40am) and Bunchrew (6am).
More than 50 separate faults were being reported on SSE's live power cut map at 7.15am.
A Met Office yellow warning for gusts of up to 70mph is currently in force in the local area. The winds are likely to persist until at least 4pm.
Elsewhere, rail services were back to normal in and out of Inverness this morning, following three days of disruption caused by fallen trees and flood damage in the likes of Kingussie.
In an update made shortly atfter 7am this morning, a spokesman for Scotrail said: "The Perth-Inverness line has re-opened (following flooding at Kingussie) with through services to/from Glasgow and Edinburgh.
"Inverness-Kyle has re-opened, with speed restrictions between Kyle and Achnasheen.
"And Inverness-Thurso/Wick has re-opened following checks due to fallen trees and other weather-related debris on the route.
"As the travel situation can change quickly due to extreme weather, please check your own journey."
They added that the yellow storm warning curerently in force across the Highlands could also lead to general disruption and delays across the network and to allow extra time for your journey.
