Sumburgh power cuts

ALMOST 300 homes and businesses around Sumburgh face a second power cut on Thursday afternoon as engineers carry out permanent repairs to electrical equipment hit by lightning earlier in the morning.

As thunder rolled across the isles, 275 properties were cut off when a lightning strike hit transformers in the area just after 6am.

Sumburgh Airport was one of the victims, though its stand by generators ensured that flights were unaffected.

By 1pm engineers had isolated the fault and restored power to all but five properties.

However a Scottish & Southern Energy spokesman said that the power would be going off again at 2.30pm for about one hour while permanent repairs were carried out.

The spokesman apologised for the inconvenience and thanked customers for their patience.