Storm Arwen: Friday before all power restored in north east Scotland

People in the north-east of Scotland could be without power until Friday, energy company SSEN has warned.

It means some homes in the region will have been without electricity for seven days following Storm Arwen.

SSEN said there were about 4,100 properties - mainly in Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen, Angus and Moray - still to be reconnected. It hopes to restore energy supplies within the next three days.

The company described the storm damage as a "once in a generation event".

SSEN has recorded 1,000 points of damage in the north east. The previous high from a single weather event was 150.

It said power had now been restored to over 120,000 customers, with the majority of villages impacted now back on supply.

In the south of Scotland, Scottish Power Energy Networks estimated 1,000 properties in the Borders had spent another night without power.

Scottish Water said supplies had been restored to rural communities in Aberdeenshire and Perthshire, with teams on standby for issues still affecting "pockets of customers".

On Wednesday afternoon, Deputy First Minister John Swinney confirmed the Bellwin Scheme had been activated. This gives local councils financial support from the Scottish government to deal with emergency incidents.

Liam Kerr, Scottish Conservative MSP for north east Scotland, earlier criticised ministers' response to the storm - claiming it had been a "monumental failure of planning".

Aberdeenshire East SNP MSP Gillian Martin called for a resilience review to be undertaken. She said she had "never before" seen such damage from high winds in her constituency.

Most of Aberdeenshire's 170 schools have reopened but about 20 remain closed.

Among the hundreds of SSEN workers battling to get powered restored is project manager Robert Weatherspoon.

He described the past five days as "very challenging" but said it was getting easier as more lines are reconnected.

"It could be anything, a wire down, trees on the line, damage to the insulators, wires sitting on the steel which wouldn't be immediately obvious," he said.

"With the amount of debris that's been blown about, you just don't know. So you've got to really think and have a good look at what you're dealing with.

"It's long hours, but when you speak to the customers and they've been without power for three or four days, in a remote location, you're quite happy to keep working on to get those people restored."

Graeme Keddie, SSEN's director of corporate affairs, told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland the storm had caused "devastation" to parts of the network.

He said: "We are confident we have a handle on what we can restore in the next couple of days.

"We are looking at making really good progress today and tomorrow and we expect it will be the last final few homes on Friday."

Mr Keddie's comments came after power companies faced criticism for poor communication, with some residents claiming they were "completely abandoned".

SSEN said it would reimburse reasonable accommodation costs for customers unable to make alternative arrangements.

Those unable to access the company's welfare facilities for hot food and drinks can also claim the cost of takeaways or meals, up to £15 per person.

In Castle Fraser, Aberdeenshire, home worker Kenny Anderson said his power was finally reconnected on Wednesday afternoon.

He used an open fire and a gas hob on a propane bottle supply in the interim. He believed the response could have been better handled by SSEN.

"The storm on Friday was catastrophic, but they could have mitigated the situation if they had maintained the infrastructure better," he said.

Mr Anderson said he was twice on hold at SSEN's call centre for 90 minutes. He declined an offer by SSEN to go into hotel accommodation, as he keeps animals on his land.

"The guys on the ground are working hard but the biggest problem is their communications," he added.

"We are only 15 miles west of Aberdeen here, it's supposed to be the energy capital of Europe. And yet we can't get decent power infrastructure."

Thousands of people in the north of England are also still living with power outages.

In the House of Commons, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said he had been assured that the "overwhelming majority" of customers would see power restored in the next day or two.

He promised his department would be looking at ways to build "an even more resilient power system".

The Met Office has advised there is a risk of further cold and wet conditions over the next 24 hours - including winds of up to 60mph.

It said damage could occur where trees and property had been destabilised by Storm Arwen.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency also warned of high tides and overtopping on the east coast. Flood barriers in Eyemouth have been deployed as a precaution.

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