Storm Eowyn leaves 100,000 households without power as 100mph gust recorded

More than 100,000 households have been left without power after people were urged to stay indoors amid a red weather warning as Scotland was hit by hurricane force winds.

First Minister John Swinney has urged people to continue to heed warnings during the “exceptional weather event”, saying a “high level of vigilance” is still required.

A gust of 100mph was recorded at Drumalbin in South Lanarkshire early on Friday afternoon – the strongest gust so far in the UK during Storm Eowyn, the Met Office said.

Trains are suspended across the country and hundreds of schools were shut, with vehicles blown over and roads closed in some areas due to debris.

Police Scotland advised motorists against travel in or to the red weather warning area.

The force said it has responded to 11 incidents where HGVs have overturned due to high winds, and it urged lorry drivers to heed travel advice.

One person was taken to Glasgow Royal Infirmary following a one-car crash on the A81 Strathblane Road near the entrance to Mugdock Country Park.

The Met Office red warning ran until 5pm and covered the central belt including Glasgow and Edinburgh, stretching north on the west coast to Jura in Argyll and Bute.

It originally stretched south to Stranraer in Dumfries and Galloway but at around 11am on Friday this was extended to cover most of Dumfries and Galloway.

A yellow warning of wind covering the whole of Scotland is in force until midnight, an amber warning of wind south of Mull in the west to Montrose in the east is in force until 9pm, and an amber wind warning for northern Scotland is in force until 6am on Saturday.

The Scottish Government’s Resilience Room met on Friday afternoon and officials said around 100,000 households are without power.

Speaking following the meeting, Mr Swinney said: “Storm Eowyn is an exceptional weather event and is causing significant impacts across Scotland, with multiple reports of fallen trees and blown over vehicles.

“What the Met Office predicted has come our way, with gusts of 100mph winds reported.

“I want to thank members of the public for largely following Police Scotland’s advice not to travel. However, this storm is not over yet.

“Even once the red weather warning expires, severe weather warnings for wind, snow and ice remain in place across much of the country tonight and into tomorrow morning.

“A high level of vigilance is still required. There are still too many lorries on the road and I urge all HGVs to follow Police Scotland advice not to travel during the red weather warning.

“We are also seeing reports of multiple power outages across Scotland and expect these to continue over the course of the day.

“It will take time to recover power and transport services across the country, as conditions still remain too dangerous for recovery teams to operate. ”

Hurricane force winds are those that reach at least 74mph, according to the Beaufort scale, the Met Office said.

SP Energy Networks said at 4.30pm that its engineers were working to restore power to 70,000 customers.

Aileen Rourke, SP Energy Networks Scotland distribution director, said: “We’ve seen wind speeds of over 100mph across our network region with conditions remaining treacherous.

“In many cases it is not safe to work to restore power but our engineers are doing what they can, both in the field and in our control room, to get the power back on for people as quickly as possible.”

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution said as of 12.30pm there were 15,771 customers without power.

SSEN said it has at least 10 times the usual number of people working in response to Storm Eowyn.

Disruption on the roads included the A1 between Spott Roundabout and Cockburnspath, East Lothian, being closed due to a number of overturned vehicles.

The A709, A75, the A76 and the A709 were also among those affected by closures.

The Tay Road Bridge was closed in both directions, as was the pedestrian walkway, while the Forth Road, Erskine and Clackmannanshire bridges were also shut, and the Queensferry Crossing was open to cars only.

Two of five lanes on the Kingston Bridge in Glasgow were previously closed due to an overturned HGV, but later reopened.

Assistant Chief Constable Mark Sutherland, who is leading the multi-agency response to Storm Eowyn, said: “We have seen significant disruption across the country, particularly in the areas affected by the red weather warning.

“First and foremost, our thoughts are with those who have been injured and those impacted by the weather.

“The high winds are forecast to continue, with amber warnings in place into this evening and tomorrow morning.

“It is concerning that there has been a large number of HGVs on the road. We have responded to 11 incidents so far where HGVs have overturned due to high winds and I want to reiterate the advice that you should not travel in or to areas under the red weather warning.

“Additionally, I would urge the public to avoid travelling in areas affected by the amber warning and consider delaying your travel until conditions improve.

“We don’t ask you to do this lightly and we make this ask with public safety at the forefront of decision-making.”

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has 10 flood alerts and three flood warnings in place.

Schools and nurseries across Scotland were closed on Friday, except in five council areas, buses were widely disrupted and many ferry services were cancelled.

Dozens of flights to and from Scottish airports were also cancelled.

ScotRail said the storm has caused significant damage to infrastructure and Network Rail colleagues will need to carry out a full assessment of the network, remove debris and undertake repairs before services can resume.

The operator said: “Unfortunately, this means that ScotRail services will be heavily impacted tomorrow (Saturday), and customers should not expect any trains to operate before 12pm at the earliest.

“The safety of our staff and our customers is our absolute priority, and we will only run trains when it is safe to do so.”

Public buildings, such as libraries, have also been closed by a number of local authorities.