Thousands of Highland homes still without power after Storm Otto
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THOUSANDS of homes in the Highlands were still without power this afternoon after mass outages were caused by Storm Otto.
At the storm's peak, 40,000 homes were without electricity, after severe gales struck the region.
Wind gusts of 80mph were reported in the likes of Tain and Lossiemouth, while the summit of Cairngorm saw gusts peak at 120mph – hurricane force.
Related: Storm Otto causes cases across Scotland
By midday engineers had managed to restore power to 10,000 homes, but 30,000 remained off the grid – and Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks was warning that for some properties, the blackout "may extend into the weekend".
At 2.30pm, hundreds of properties were still without power in Easter Ross with hundreds more reported on the Black Isle.
Elsewhere, an area from just outside Nairn to the shores of Lochindorb, affecting nearly 900 separate properties, was also powerless, as too were some areas in the upper reaches of Strathnairn such as Daviot and Balnafoich.
Hundreds of homes in Caithness were also without power; with further outages also reported in parts of Mid Ross and the Great Glen and elsewhere.
As well as power cuts the storm also brought chaos to the region's transport network and schools.
Trees blocked or partially blocked roads across the Highlands, with the A9 south of Tain, the same road between Golspie and Brora, and near Daviot as well, among those stretches reporting issues in the morning.
Bridges were also affected, with the Dornoch Bridge shut to all vehicles at one point, and the Kessock Bridge closed to high-sided vehicles, before both alerts were later eased.
Nearly 30 schools were also closed, including Thurso and Wick's high schools. In total more than 4200 school pupils were affected, with more than 400 nursery age youngsters also impacted.
