News / Friday’s cancellations and disruptions
AITH JUNIOR High School and the primary schools at Skeld, Happyhansel, Sandness, Mossbank, Olnafirth and Urafirth are closed today (Friday).
All other schools in Shetland are open, but the primary department of Brae School will close at 1pm and the secondary department at 1.30pm.
Primary schools at Tingwall, Whiteness, Scalloway, Hamnavoe, Cunningsburgh, Dunrossness, Sandwick and Uyeasound will also close at 1.30pm. Sandwick secondary will close at 2pm. Transport has been arranged.
The Whalsay, Yell Sound, Bluemull Sound, Skerries and Papa Stour inter-island ferries have been suspended all day. Delays can be expected on the Bressay service. The inter island service is expected to be back to normal on Saturday.
People are advised to check the voicebanks as they are updated regularly.
All of NorthLink’s passenger ferry and cargo services between Shetland and Aberdeen have now been cancelled for today.
Helliar is scheduled to depart Lerwick for Aberdeen next at noon on Saturday, and head to Kirkwall from Aberdeen departing at 8pm on Sunday.
Hildasay will leave Aberdeen at 6am on Saturday, and leave Lerwick again for Aberdeen at 6pm on Sunday.
NorthLink say those times are subject to change depending on the weather.
Sumburgh airport has experienced delays and disruptions all morning with no flight to Kirkwall, and a full emergency when the inbound Inverness flight reported problems with its control systems. The plane landed safely just after midday. Scatsta was closed all day.
The roads are reported to be clear for traffic though drivers are advised to be careful. The road into Clousta was blocked on Friday morning after ice from a loch slipped onto it.
Fire services were called out at around 1am to the Sound petrol station, in Lerwick, to secure sheeting and light fittings.
Meanwhile some business premises in Lerwick are affected by flooding, including Scottish Water at Gremista.
There were no reports of road closures in Shetland, as Orkney appears to have suffered the worst of the overnight storms.
BBC Radio Orkney was off air this morning because of damage to the transmitter. All schools in Orkney are closed, and many areas are without power. NorthLink has cancelled all its services across the Pentland Firth, and Saturday morning’s sailings are currently under review. All inter-island services are also cancelled.
In Shetland north westerly winds were up to severe gale force with gusts in the region of 70 miles per hour. However, in Foula gusts of up to 98 miles per hour were recorded, and in Fair Isle up to 92 mph.
The forecast is for severe north westerly gales throughout the day with frequent wintry showers and a maximum temperature of 2 °C.
Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution have been dealing with 11 separate faults which started to knock out power lines from before 10pm on Thursday night. In total 1,500 customers lost power for varying lengths of time, some for as much as 18 hours.
Most of the problems were caused by flying debris hitting overhead power lines and were as widespread as Sumburgh, Eshaness, Sand and Unst.
By 5pm on Friday there were only two customers without power, a house on Yell and the Eshaness lighthouse, where engineers said the waves were crashing over the building making it too dangerous to work.
SHEPD apologised for any inconvenience to customers, though it was felt the local grid stood up well to the poor weather compared to the Scottish mainland where a total of 105,000 customers lost power during the storm.
Cancellations today:
- Choral Society Christmas Concert, St. Columba’s Church, Lerwick;
- All youth clubs;
- Athletics Club sessions;
Refresh this page as it will be updated regularly. Please send your weather pictures and cancellations to news@shetnews.co.uk or text them to 07775 564513.
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