Tens of thousands of homes across Scotland remain without electricity as Storm Amy continues to move away from the UK. Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) reported that 34,000 customers were still without power as of Saturday evening, though nearly 50,000 have been successfully reconnected.
Yellow wind warnings remain active across eastern and northeastern Scotland, Orkney and Shetland until Sunday midday. The Met Office warns that strong westerly to northwesterly winds will persist through Sunday morning as the storm slowly pulls eastward.
Ongoing Weather Threats
Wind gusts of 60 to 70mph remain possible during the early hours, particularly in exposed coastal areas. The Met Office said: "Winds should generally ease from the west through the morning although (they) will remain strong over, and to the lee of, mountains for some time afterwards."
Storm Amy proved deadly when a man died in a weather-related incident near Letterkenny in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, on Friday afternoon. Wind speeds reached extreme levels, with gusts of 96mph recorded across northern Scotland on Saturday and over 100mph in the most exposed areas.
The storm brought devastating rainfall, with Cassley experiencing 84.6mm of precipitation within 24 hours. SSEN reported that winds reached 96mph at lower elevations on the island of Tiree on Friday.
Transport Network Chaos
Rail services face major disruption continuing into Sunday, with ScotRail describing "extensive damage" to the network. No trains will run on the Oban/Crianlarich, Fort William/Mallaig West Highland Line, or the Far North Inverness/Wick/Kyle routes.
Services on several other key routes including Inverness to Elgin and Glasgow Queen Street to Cumbernauld are not expected to resume until Sunday afternoon. ScotRail said: "The impact of Storm Amy has been significant and we're sorry for the inconvenience caused to customers since Friday."
Network Rail Scotland recorded more than 280 separate storm-related incidents by Saturday evening. Hundreds of engineers and tree cutters are working around the clock to clear debris and repair infrastructure damage. Nik Wheeler, SSEN's head of customer operations, said: "Every resource at our disposal is being directed at the reconnection operation."
Sources used: "PA Media" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
