Watch: Planes struggle to land at Belfast City Airport as Storm Floris hits NI
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Daily Record
5 hours ago
- Daily Record
Power back on for most homes hit by Storm Floris blackout in reconnection drive
Angela Constance spoke earlier about the clear-up mission following the storm. The Justice Secretary has said almost all homes that lost power in Scotland during Storm Floris have now been reconnected. Angela Constance said the storm had a particular impact on power and transport infrastructure across the country, resulting in a major mobilisation of utility companies, national agencies and local authorities in response. The Scottish Government said transport services are almost back to normal, and that engineers are continuing to restore power to homes and businesses, with the worst affected areas in Inverness, Dornoch, and the Moray Coast. The Scottish Government also said 98% of the 71,000 homes that lost power are now restored, with the remaining 1,600 set to be reconnected over Tuesday evening. Ms Constance thanked responders who assisted in reconnecting the public and businesses with electricity. She said: "I want to thank everyone in the public, private and third sector for the role they played in responding to Storm Floris. "It was a significant and unseasonal storm with the worst affected areas covering a wide geographical spread. "Engineers have worked tirelessly over the past two days to return power to the remaining affected properties as soon as possible. "Energy companies continue to provide support to customers, including ensuring provisions are in place for the most vulnerable." Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. It comes as thousands of customers spent a second night without power after Storm Floris swept in on Monday. Tens of thousands of people were left without power after high winds earlier in the week, which reached speeds of up to 90mph. The company said that hundreds of engineers have been out on the network throughout Wednesday working to reconnect homes. SSEN Distribution's director of customer operations for the north of Scotland, Andy Smith, said: "Our absolute focus this evening remains the same as when this storm first hit - to restore those customers who lost power, as safely and as quickly as we can. "Thanks to a huge, combined team effort, great progress has been made over the past 24 hours, with several thousand more customers being reconnected. "This work goes on, and while it does, our operation to keep our customers, supported and informed continues too. "I'd also like to thank people and businesses in the Inverness area for their generous response to our appeal for available accommodation for our engineering teams." An amber weather warning was in place for an area stretching from the central belt to northern Scotland for much of the day on Monday while the rest of the country was covered by a yellow weather warning. The storm also caused significant disruption to Scotland's rail network. Network Rail said teams have been working "tirelessly" to repair damage to infrastructure such as overhead lines and to clear fallen trees and debris from the tracks. The storm also led to delays in exam results being delivered to pupils in some island communities on SQA results day on Tuesday.
The Herald Scotland
9 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
SSEN urges customers to claim compensation for Storm Floris outages
While more than 98 per cent of all those who lost supply due to the storm have now been reconnected, hundreds of engineers remain out on the network as of Wednesday evening. Most of those affected are in parts of the Highlands, including communities in the Great Glen, Sheildaig, Conon Falls, Conon Bridge, Tain and Evanton. As parts of the country which were less-severely affected have been reconnected, further resources have been diverted to the Highlands. SSEN's aim is to repair the last-remaining outages in Aberdeenshire by the end of this evening. Specialist overhead lines teams from SSEN's central southern England network area have travelled to Scotland to reinforce restoration work in the north of the country. # The storm caused widespread disruption to power networks (Image: Stuart Hatch/SSEN) Helicopters and drones have also been used for a second day to inspect the network from above, meaning the extent of damage can be established more quickly, and repairs planned accordingly. Tree-cutting teams have cleared debris hindering access to faults, thus allowing repairs to progress. Meanwhile, SSEN's Welfare Team has organised the provision of hot meals in affected communities, either by hiring in hot food vans, or by working in partnership with local cafes and restaurants. Storm Floris has been confirmed as a Category 2 Severe Weather Event, which means customers without power for more than 48 hours continuously, will receive a Guaranteed Standards payment of £85.00 and a subsequent payment of £45.00 for each continuous 6-hour period that they did not have power thereafter. Guaranteed Standards payments are issued automatically, and customers do not need to make a claim or contact us to receive this. SSEN Distribution's Director of Customer Operations for the north of Scotland, Andy Smith, said: 'Our absolute focus this evening remains the same as when this storm first hit – to restore those customers who lost power, as safely and as quickly as we can. 'Thanks to a huge, combined team effort, great progress has been made over the past 24 hours, with several thousand more customers being reconnected. This work goes on, and while it does, our operation to keep our customers, supported and informed continues too. 'I'd also like to thank people and businesses in the Inverness area for their generous response to our appeal for available accommodation for our engineering teams.' Engineers have been deployed to remote locations (Image: SSEN) Justice Secretary Angela Constance has thanked responders for their efforts to support communities affected by Storm Floris. Ms Constance said: 'I want to thank everyone in the public, private and third sector for the role they played in responding to Storm Floris. It was a significant and unseasonal storm with the worst affected areas covering a wide geographical spread. 'Engineers have worked tirelessly over the past two days to return power to the remaining affected properties as soon as possible.
Metro
12 hours ago
- Metro
Major UK airport grounds flights after 'aircraft incident' on runway
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Passengers face delays at Birmingham Airport after an aircraft incident has closed the runway. The UK's seventh busiest airport issued a warning to passengers after an incident on the tarmac this afternoon. Birmingham Airport said the runway is 'temporarily closed' following an 'aircraft incident.' The airport said in a statement: 'Following an aircraft incident, the runway is temporarily closed. 'We apologise for the inconvenience this will cause. 'We will keep passengers already at the airport informed and those due to travel later today are advised to check the status of their flight before coming to the airport. 'We will continue to issue updates when we can.' Footage appears to show a small aircraft on the runway along with emergency crews. Several flights have been diverted to alternative airports, it is understood. Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ Or you can submit your videos and pictures here. For more stories like this, check our news page. Follow on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here. MORE: Storm Floris causes flight disruption as Jet2 and Easyjet issue updates MORE: I visited the 'world's most fun airport' that makes family holidays easy MORE: Man picks 'dirt from under his partner's toenails' during easyJet flight
