Community / Sumburgh Airport closed and homes affected by power cuts
Airport now reopened and arrivals from Aberdeen and Edinburgh expected soon
SUMBURGH Airport had to close on Wednesday afternoon after a lightning strike hit one of the radio masts of the control tower.
A Loganair service from Aberdeen was diverted. Airport operator HIAL said the airport is closed until 7pm when they hope to be able to give a further update.
A spokesman for the company said a short time ago: “Severe weather has affected our communications systems and the airport is currently closed until 7pm.
“Engineers are currently working to resolve the situation. We would advise passengers expecting to travel to contact their airlines. We apologise for any inconvenience and the airport will reopen as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Meanwhile around 440 properties in the north mainland of Shetland lost power at around twenty to five.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said that this was due to a fault in the electricity network. The outage occurred during thunder and lightning in the area.
Engineers have arrived on site and are expected to restore power by 8pm. This may be done in stages, the company said.
A spokesperson said: “We are investigating the cause of this fault, with our priority at the moment to restore supplies to our customers as quickly as possible
“We’d like to thank our customers for their patience, apologising for any inconvenience caused this evening, as our engineers work to safely restore supplies as quickly as possible.”
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