News / Power off as storm hits

24 December 2016 16:37

Engineers working to restore power to Bressay on Saturday morning. Photo: John Bateson

AROUND 400 households in Shetland lost power overnight and into Saturday as lightning and strong winds hit the isles.

On Saturday afternoon, SSE confirmed that at least 30 households were still without electricty in Unst and Sullom. Both areas are expected to be reconnected by the evening.

Around 200 customers lost power in Bressay between 1.20am and 3pm after a fault with a transformer, with engineers having to wait until the island’s ferry service resumed before attending to the problem.

A further 110 properties also lost power in Tingwall, with SSE confirming that the majority of Shetland’s power cuts were related to lightning.

Much of Shetland’s inter-island ferry service has been disrupted as a result of the so called Storm Barbara, with gusts of 83mph – the highest in Scotland in the last 24 hours – recorded at Sella Ness.

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