Most homes that lost power during Storm Floris 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.'
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 since first light on Wednesday morning working to reconnect homes.
It said that 95% of customers who lost supplies due to Storm Floris have been reconnected.
Andy Smith, SSEN's director of customer operations for the north of Scotland, said late on Tuesday: 'Storm Floris has been unusually powerful, especially for a storm at this time of year.
'It's brought down many trees that have endured several previous storms, and it's caused some network damage.'
He added: 'I'd like to thank our customers for their understanding and patience while we go about this massive task; we're doing our best to give people realistic, informed estimates of when we'll get their power back on.
'I'm also grateful to the teams from our contract partners and other network operators for supporting our effort.'
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.
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