Multiple power cuts on west coast plunge homes into darkness after severe winds
Homes in Wester Ross and north-west Sutherland are without power this evening following severe storm winds.
A fault in the north-west Sutherland area was reported to Scottish & Southern Energy Networks (SSEN) at 4.48pm with power likely to be restored by 10.30pm.
Customers living in Lochinver, Clachtoll and nearby areas are likely to be without power with a total of 42 postcodes in the IV27 region affected.
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A second fault affecting Wester Ross was reported at 6.49pm this evening with engineers estimating that power will be restored by 10pm.
A total of 35 postcodes in the IV22 region have been impacted, with customers north of Gairloch and south of Ullapool experiencing a loss of power.
A statement from SSEN said: "Adverse weather conditions including strong winds is impacting our network and is the likely cause of (power cuts). We have teams on hand to respond to the weather and the moment it's safe to do so, our engineers will work around the clock to get the power back on.
"In the background, we'll also be switching our network to restore power to as many homes as possible. We do this by remotely moving the flow of electricity around our network so that we can get the lights back on for as many customers as possible.
"Customers who are located near the damaged part of our network are then the customers who remain off longer until a repair is completed."