Second storm in three days hits the North of Scotland
Thousands of residents across the north have been left without power after storms Malik and Corrie
Last updated 31st Jan 2022
Thousands of people across the North of Scotland are still without power after being hit by two storms over the weekend.
Around 37,000 homes are currently without access to electricity, seven thousand of those lost connection after storm Malik on Saturday morning.
Winds in many areas were reaching 60-70mph on Sunday night into Monday morning, but in some places speeds reached just shy of 90mph.
Ken McEwen from Kintore has been without power since Saturday morning, he told us:
"We've lost a couple of trees that have blown down, we've had no heating and no light, but fortunately we've had a gas cooker so we've been able to make meals.
"We did receive a text from SSEN saying that they hoped to get the power back on, obviously that didn't happen and it's been a little bit disappointing that we haven't had further updates.
"It's certainly very concerning that this is happening so soon after Storm Arwen.
"The concern must obviously be are we seeing more disruptive storms as a result for climate change?"
Schools and public services:
Over 60 schools across Aberdeenshire are shut today, and some others have delayed the opening of their doors.
Stonehaven is one of the towns without power, NHS Grampian say they've had to close the vaccination clinic there as a result.
A number of GP surgeries are operating without power, including Stonehaven.
Also impacted are Aboyne/Tarland, Alford, Ballater, Braemar and Kemnay.
Trains and buses are also effected, with debris on the roads and tracks causing issues.
Richard Gough, Director of Distribution System Operations at SSEN, said:
“Our teams have continued to make strong progress restoring power to customers impacted by Storm Malik, with a further 10,000 customers restored today.
“Whilst our teams are making every effort to restore customers as soon as possible, we do expect the cumulative impact of Storms Malik and Corrie to cause significant damage to our network. As a result, we are advising customers that the full restoration of customer supplies from both storms to extend into the early part of this week.
“We would like to apologise to all customers affected and would like to reassure them that all available resources have been deployed to support with restoration efforts and 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 any customer concerned to give our dedicated teams a call on 105, where we can provide additional support and guidance.”
Welfare centres:
Both Aberdeenshire Council and SSEN have set up a number of locations where people can get hot food and drinks, somewhere warm to charge phones and a shower.
Facilities have SSEN are available at the following:
Aberchirder: Bowling Club Car Park, Steak Bar
Aviemore: The Winking Owl, Grampian Road
Beauly: Priory Hotel
Buckie: Marine Hotel
Dulnaine Bridge: Roches Moutonnees Car Park
Elgin: Laichmoray Hotel booking required
Elgin: Bishopmill Chip Shop, Blantyre Place, Fish and Chips
Fyvie: Outside the Co-op, Steak Bar
Grantown on Spey: Car park off the high street, Chip van
Hopeman: Station Hotel Booking required
Insch: Fast Fries, Western Road, Chip Shop
Insch: Café Mint, Commerce Street
Keith: Royal Hotel, booking required
Kemnay: Aquithie Road, Steak Bar
Kintore: Chip Shop, Fish & Chips
MacDuff: The Knowes Hotel Hotel
Methlick: Bowling Green Car Park, Fish & Chips
Tarland: The Square Steak Bar
Torphins: Learney Hall, Fish & Chips
Whitestone: Opposite Finzean Town Hall, Steak Bar
To help support communities, Aberdeenshire Council’s Live Life Aberdeenshire sites (those with power) have been opened to anyone that needs a shower, power and heat:
Turriff Swimming Pool
Banchory Sports Village
Deveron Community and Sports Centre
Inverurie Community Campus
Ellon Community Campus
Portlethen Pool
Westhill Swimming pool
Stonehaven Leisure Centre
Fraserburgh Community and Sports Centre
Alford Community Campus
Aboyne & Deeside Community Centre
Huntly Swimming Pool
Peterhead Leisure & Community centre
Kingswells Community Centre, Aberdeen AB15 8TG
Carnegie Hall, 1 Skene Pl, Dyce, Aberdeen AB21 7AY
Sports Aberdeen – all facilities open for showers etc.
Contact numbers:
If you need help, or need to report fallen trees – via Police on 101
Power outages – via SSEN on 105
Non-urgent medical issues – via NHS on 111
Emergency council housing repairs - 03456 08 12 03
Emergency social care 03456 08 12 06