‘Significant damage’ as clean-up begins across Scotland

Journey companies stay severely disrupted and greater than 60,000 clients are nonetheless with out energy as Scotland recovers from Storm Éowyn.

A lot of main roads are closed and most practice companies stay suspended till a minimum of 12:00.

One individual was significantly damage in a single automobile collision in Mauchline, East Ayrshire at about 07:10 on Friday, whereas one other was injured when a van was struck by a falling tree in Glasgow at about 09:00.

Police Scotland mentioned they’ve responded to virtually 1,900 weather-related incidents throughout the nation.

A purple climate warning for areas of central, southern and western Scotland expired at 17:00 on Friday however an amber wind alert remained in a single day in northern Scotland.

The storm has now largely moved away from Scotland, abandoning a path of injury and disruption.

On Saturday morning, 67,000 clients have been nonetheless with out energy in response to the most recent figures from energy suppliers.

A lot of main routes and companies additionally remained closed:

The M80 is closed each methods in Stirling between J9, the Bannockburn turning, and J8, the M876 interchange.The M898 is closed heading North from the M8 at J30 to J1, the Erskine handing over Renfrewshire due to a fallen tree.In East Ayrshire a fallen tree has blocked the A70 from Coalhall to Cumnock.ScotRail companies are anticipated to regularly begin working from 12:00. There’s at the moment no service on Avanti West Coast between Preston and Glasgow Central, or between Preston and Edinburgh Waverley.The east coast line is open, however important delays are anticipated.Ferry vessels and ports are being inspected for harm and companies are resuming. Ferry passengers ought to test for any restrictions on native entry roads earlier than setting off.

Celtic’s match towards Dundee has been referred to as off.

A press release mentioned the stadium at Parkhead had been broken on Friday and so they had been suggested that they may not proceed with the sport.

The rearranged fixture will happen on 5 February at 19:45.

Three yellow climate warnings stay in place in Scotland:

An ice and snow warning over many of the mainland from 18:00 on Saturday till 10:00 on Sunday.A wind warning for the far north-west coast and Western Isles from 18:00 on Saturday till 10:00 on Sunday.A wind warning for a part of Caithness, all of Orkney and southern Shetland till 15:00 on Saturday.

Talking on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Jim Dale, senior meteorologist at British Climate Providers, mentioned it was some of the important storms of his 40 yr profession.

“Individuals will recognise this when it comes to the harm that has been accomplished. One grateful factor, and I am going to attempt to be optimistic about storms, is that there’s solely sadly one loss of life within the Republic of Eire,” he mentioned.

“However you possibly can think about if there had been no warnings, if individuals hadn’t heeded these warnings – purple and amber as they have been – then the casualty checklist would have been far, far greater.

“The storm was properly forecasted so it wasn’t prefer it got here out of the blue like some storms accomplish that I believe individuals dealt with it fairly properly,” he mentioned.

Mr Dale mentioned the storm is now heading in direction of Norway, abandoning wintry circumstances over a lot of Scotland.

“There’s snow throughout a lot of the excessive floor and even a few of the decrease floor.

“So it is a case of selecting up the items actually as we speak and a few of these with out electrical could also be taking a bit extra time to get that one again however that is the form of normality. There’s loads of work to be accomplished after the storm, not simply whereas it is happening,” he mentioned.

Scotrail mentioned 400 particular person incidents had been reported throughout the community. These embrace a number of bushes on tracks, broken overhead wires, energy provide failures, different objects on the road and extra.

By 12:00 on Saturday that they had re-opened some strains, together with Perth to Inverness, Inverness to Elgin, Inverness to Aberdeen, Dundee to Aberdeen, Perth to Dundee, Edinburgh to Tweedbank and Edinburgh to Dunbar

Nonetheless, the overwhelming majority of routes stay closed, A press release mentioned “important disruption will proceed for the remainder of as we speak and into Sunday.”

ScotRail buyer operations director Phil Campbell mentioned: “Our key message to clients is earlier than setting off, please test on-line, on social media or the web site and there you may discover the hottest info.”

A gust of 100.7mph was formally recorded at Drumalbin in South Lanarkshire on Friday afternoon, whereas one other of gust of 102mph was reported on the Tay Street Bridge.

In a publish on X, previously Twitter, First Minister John Swinney requested for “endurance” whereas the work to revive companies affected by the storm was carried out.

“After the numerous affect of Storm Éowyn, work is underway to revive energy provides and transport networks,” he mentioned.

“It would take a while to finish and I enchantment for the endurance of the general public.

“Energy firm workers and our public servants are working at velocity to revive companies”.

Justice Secretary Angela Constance advised BBC Scotland Information “nice warning” was nonetheless required from the general public throughout the clear-up.

“If I can reiterate the recommendation from Police Scotland, if individuals have to journey they have to do with nice care,” she mentioned.

“There are nonetheless a lot of incidents, blockages and diversions on the transport community and naturally the much less site visitors there’s on the transport community, that aids the restoration as a result of that clears the best way for utility corporations and different operators to be getting on with the restoration operation.”