One day after Storm Malik battered parts of the UK, causing the deaths of three people, up to 16,000 homes remain without power.
Northern Powergrid said those affected are in Northumberland and County Durham and warned that some would remain without power for the duration of Sunday as a second storm – Storm Corrie – is expected to bring another blast of strong winds.
The Met Office has issued yellow and amber weather warnings across northern Scotland, including Grampian, Highlands and Eilean Siar, Strathclyde and Fife, from midnight on Sunday to 10am on Monday.
Experts predict Corrie could bring gusts of up to 90mph in exposed coastal Scottish regions, and up to 70 to 80mph in the country’s north. Wintry showers are also expected, which the Met says could lead to ice on untreated surfaces and up to 2cm of snow in some areas.
It comes after Scotland and parts of northern England were battered by winds of up to 100mph during Malik on Saturday, resulting in around 80,000 homes losing electricity.
Paul Glendinning, the director of Northern Powergrid, said of the situation on Sunday: “We have successfully restored supplies to more than 60,000 customers, but given the amount of work that there is to do and the fact that we are expecting more high winds during Sunday afternoon, we think that it is likely that a relatively small proportion of our customers will remain without power beyond Sunday night.”
Meanwhile, Andy Bilclough, director of field operations, admitted there was “still a lot to do”, but insisted “we have a large team out there now in what are currently perfect conditions for the kind of work we do”.
“Storm Corrie is a concern but we’re going to get as much done as we can today for as long as it is safe to do so,” he added.
Emergency workers urged residents in affected areas to stay at home on Sunday amid the threat of Corrie, after two people were killed in freak accidents involving torn-down trees.
Staffordshire Police said they were called at 1pm on Saturday to reports a tree had fallen on a man and a young boy. “Police received a report at 1pm this afternoon that a tree had fallen on a boy and a man, in an area close to Hollington Road, Winnothdale, near to the village of Tean,” the force said in a statement.
Despite the pair being rushed to the Royal Stoke University Hospital, “sadly, despite the best efforts of medical staff, a nine-year-old boy passed away,” police added. The man remains in hospital.
Earlier on Saturday, at around 10.30am, officers from Police Scotland reported being called to Deveron Road in Aberdeen where a 60-year-old woman was killed by an uprooted tree.
Rural Aberdeenshire is one of the hardest hit areas and some customers in Angus, the Highlands, the Moray Coast and Perthshire are still waiting for supplies to be restored.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said that Malik caused “significant damage” to its network and had left more than 10,000 customers without supply as of Sunday at 11am.
It also warned that the double blow of Malik and Corrie could mean that some customers, particularly those in the rural Aberdeenshire area, may have to wait until the early part of next week before such issues can be resolved.
Another man, aged 32, was killed in a fatal crash after the lorry he was driving was overturned by strong winds yesterday on the M74 in Scotland.
As part of the Met’s weather warnings going into this evening, forecasters told residents in northern Scotland that “flying debris is likely and could lead to Injuries or danger to life”. They also said there may be some damage to trees and buildings, which could include tiles being blown from roofs.
A residential street in Gateshead, in the northeast of England, saw just that yesterday when a house’s entire roof was torn off. Images shared on social media show the devastation, with a mountain of debris blocking two homes on the street.
“Storm Corrie will bring a spell of very windy weather later today and during Monday morning, particularly across northern parts of the UK,” the Met Office said, adding: “Damaging winds are likely to lead to travel disruption in places.”
Additional reporting by PA
