Amy left 75k homes with no electricity

Hurricane-force winds and rain hinder efforts to restore power

- By Douglas Dickie

TENS of thousands of homes across Scotland remained without electricity last night as the clear-up from Storm Amy continued.

Winds of nearly 100mph were recorded on Friday night and yesterday morning, while heavy rain caused flooding, inset, as the tempest battered the country - and the area of low pressure will continue to have an impact well into today.

About 75,000 homes were without power at one point, mainly across the Highlands and islands, with work continuing to reconnect the remaining homes.

On Saturday evening, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said it had managed to get power back to 33,000 homes, with 42,000 still without power.

SSEN’s Head of Customer Operations for the north of Scotland, Nik Wheeler, said continued strong winds on Saturday into Sunday hampered some work.

He added: “Amy’s winds have continued to blow at damaging speeds, and more network damage is expected before the end of Saturday. Engineering and tree-cutting teams are well placed to respond, and they’ve been doing so as safely and quickly as they can in challenging conditions.