Highlands braced for impact of Storm Corrie as Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) moves to red alert status
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FOLLOWING the "significant damage" caused by Storm Malik yesterday combined with the potential impacts of Storm Corrie today, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks has moved to Red Alert status for its north of Scotland licence area.
From the early hours of Saturday, sustained wind speeds of over 70mph were experienced across the north of Scotland, with gusts in excess of 85mph recorded on the north-east coast.
It follows the death of a woman on Saturday morning when Storm Malik hit the country. The 60-year-old was killed by a falling tree in Aberdeen as gusts of wind hit around 85mph nearby.
A wind gust speed of 147mph was recorded on Cairn Gorm on Saturday at 6am, while the conditions brought trains to a standstill and cut power in areas of Moray, Aberdeenshire, Angus and Perthshire.
Train services including those on the Aberdeen to Inverness, Far North line between Inverness and Wick/Thurso and the Inverness to Kyle route were suspended on Saturday, with speed restrictions in place elsewhere on the network.
The impact of Storm Malik has resulted in significant damage to SSEN’s electricity network due to fallen trees, branches, and other wind-blown debris striking network infrastructure. Access to faults is also proving difficult due to fallen trees blocking roads.
SSEN said it continues to closely monitor a second weather front, named by the Met Office as Storm Corrie, which is also forecast to impact similar regions in the north of Scotland from the afternoon and has the potential to cause further damage and faults to SSEN’s electricity network.
As of 10pm last night, SSEN has experienced over 200 faults on its high voltage network and its operational teams have successfully restored power to around 47,000 customers in extremely challenging conditions.
Around 23,000 customers currently remain off supply, with the main areas affected being rural Aberdeenshire and the Moray Coast, with pockets of customers also off supply in Angus, the Highlands and Perthshire.
Whilst every effort will be made to restore power to as many customers as possible, SSEN said there would be customers who remain off supply overnight, with the full restoration of all customer supplies likely to extend across multiple days.
The main areas which are likely to be most affected by prolonged outages are:
North-East - Aberchider, Finzean, Monymusk, Newburgh, Rothienorman, Strachan, Whitehouse- Alford
Grantown on Spey area - Balindalloch, Boat of Garten, Dalwhinnie, Kingussie
SSEN is also working closely with local resilience partnerships to help coordinate responses and provide support to customers affected.
Customers who still remain off supply, particularly in those areas listed above, may wish to consider making alternative arrangements with friends or family, where possible. In addition, SSEN is providing welfare facilities at a number of locations.
Customers unable to access welfare facilities and who remain off supply may claim back the cost of meals up to £15 per person. Customers are being asked to keep copies of receipts for any claims and any vulnerable customer who requires alternative arrangements but is unable to arrange themselves, is encouraged to contact SSEN’s teams by calling 105.
Richard Gough, Director of Distribution System Operations at SSEN, said:“Having now assessed the full impact of Storm Malik and as we prepare for the arrival of Storm Corrie, we have now increased our alert status to Red Alert.
“Whilst our teams have made good progress and have restored power to the majority of customers affected by Storm Malik, due to the extent of damage caused, alongside the likely impact of Storm Corrie, we expect the full restoration of customer supplies from both storms to extend across multiple days.
“We are therefore notifying all customers who remain off supply that they may want to consider making alternative arrangements, where possible.
“We would like to apologise to all customers affected and would like to reassure them that our teams are doing all they can to restore power as quickly as possible, where it is safe to do so.
“We continue to proactively contact customers on our priority services register to offer extra support where required and work with local resilience partners to coordinate welfare provisions. I’d encourage anyone concerned to give our dedicated teams a call on 105, where we can provide additional support and guidance.”
Tracking
SSEN has been tracking Storm Malik for several days and has enacted its established resilience plans, mobilising additional teams and resources to areas expected to be impacted, including teams from our licence area in central southern England and contractors. All available operations teams are working to restore power to customers affected as quickly as possible, where it is safe to do so.
SSEN is urging people to not approach any damage to its equipment and instead, report it to SSEN by calling 105 or via its Power Track App and engineers will investigate as soon as possible.
Customers are also being encouraged to be prepared for the possibility of disruption to supplies by: Saving the emergency power cut number – 105 – to your phone to use if your power goes off, or if you see any damage to the electricity network
Downloading SSEN’s Power Track app to give you details of power cuts and restoration times. You can also report power cuts and network damage through the Power Track app
Going to SSEN’s website where there is a wealth of advice and information on how to prepare for a possible loss of power
Following SSEN on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates
Teams from SSEN’s Customer Contact Centre continue to proactively contact customers on its Priority Services Register (PSR) to keep them updated and to offer extra support where possible, with over 54,000 proactive contacts to warn customers in advance of the storm.
SSEN’s Priority Services Register (PSR) provides extra help and support during a power cut. Customers are eligible for SSEN's free priority services if they:
Are deaf or hard of hearing
Have a disability
Live with children under five
Are blind or partially sighted
Have a chronic illness
Use medical equipment/aids reliant on electricity
Are over 60
Temporarily need extra support
To find out more about the PSR, click here or call 0800 294 3259.
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