Power and transport returning to normal
ELECTRICAL engineers worked through freezing conditions on Friday to restore power to around 200 homes in the north isles of Yell and Unst, some of whom had been without power for more than 24 hours.
By early evening Scottish and Southern Energy said there were just 20 isolated homes throughout Unst and 50 homes in and around Aywick, on Yell, that were still without electricity.
An SSE spokesman said they were still hunting for the cause of the Aywick fault, but would not stop looking until it was found and fixed.
Road conditions remained treacherous as council crews ploughed and gritted the priority roads throughout the day, but found below zero temperatures made the salt ineffective. Some small roads were blocked by drifting snow.
Gritting will continue on Saturday when rain and milder conditions are expected to clear the snow and ice.
After early disruptions, ferry services to Yell, Unst and Whalsay returned to normal, though the Skerries and Papa Stour services were cancelled due to high winds.
Sumburgh airport struggled to return to normal after no flights came or went on Thursday, leaving 35 passengers and several crew members being put up overnight on the isles in hotels.
Serco NorthLink were forced to cancel Thursday’s northbound ferry from Aberdeen, which meant no ferry sailed from Lerwick on Friday evening.
The Hjaltland did not leave Lerwick until 3am on Friday morning, not reaching Aberdeen until 3pm where it unloaded a full deck of freight before setting sail back for Lerwick at 7pm.
Mobile phone customers on the O2 network also suffered signal problems due to power outages throughout the network. Power and telephone blackouts were also reported in the Vidlin area on Friday.
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