Power cuts in parts of Wester Ross and Sutherland spark school closures; disruption comes amid Met Office yellow weather warning for snow and winds, with warnings that newly-named Storm Dennis will cause further potential disruption this weekend
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POWER cuts have knocked out power in several Wester Ross and Sutherland communities - sparking the closure of some primary schools.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has confirmed that dozens of postcodes in the IV23, IV26 and IV27 areas - stretching from Braemore and Loch Broom in the south to Coigach and Lochinver further north - have been affected.
The power cuts have also sparked the closure of primary schools in Achiltibuie and Lochinver.
The outages all occurred in a window from shortly before 10am until a little after 11am. SSEN said it hoped to have power restored in many of the affected communities by 1pm.
For the latest updates visit the SSEN power cuts webpage.
There were also school closures in several other parts of the Highlands, caused by heavy snows and high winds.
Most closures have taken place in amongst the Cairngorms, with schools in Kingussie, Newtonmore and Aviemore all feeling the pinch.
Their closures came as fierce snow storms battered higher ground, with web cams on the shores of Loch Morlich showing repeated white-out conditions.
CalMac has also announced some cancellations on Tuesday's ferry sailings between Ullapool and Stornoway.
The disruption has occurred amid continuing Met Office weather warning for snow and strong winds across the Highlands on Tuesday. A further warning, this time for ice and snow, will run from 12.01am to midday on Wednesday.
But if fed up Highlanders were hoping for a little respite following Storm Ciara and its aftermath, they’ll likely be disappointed after Met Office officials announced another storm - Dennis - will batter parts of the UK over the coming weekend.
The centre of the low is currently expected to pass to the north of Scotland, bringing high winds across the British Isles and frequent rain and snow to many parts.
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