Windy weather causes power outages in North and West Mainland

ALMOST 550 homes across Shetland are believed to have lost power in the early hours of this morning (Friday) amid gale-force winds.

SSEN said that around 483 properties in the West Mainland, including areas such as Walls, West Burrafirth and Sandness, had lost power at around 8.15am.

Power is expected to be restored to the area by around 1.30pm this afternoon.

A further 66 properties in the North Mainland, mainly in Eshaness, lost power at around 3.30am, with power expected to be restored by midday.

SSEN said it had received reports of damage to the network amid the high winds, which came after a Met Office yellow warning for wind.

That warning remains in place until 11am today.

The weather is also already affecting the inter-island ferry services, with the Bressay ferry suspended due to the high winds.

She sailed out of Bressay at 8.30am to Lerwick, but is likely to be tied up now until the afternoon.

Both the Bluemull Sound and Yell Sound services have also gone down to a single vessel timetable, with all bookings suspended.

The Whalsay service has been suspended due to the high winds.

Flights between Sumburgh Airport and Aberdeen, Glasgow, Inverness and Edinburgh have been cancelled already this morning too.

There are also set to be short delays to tonight’s NorthLink sailings, with the Hjaltland expected to arrive in Lerwick one hour late tomorrow.

The Hrossey will sail from Lerwick at 5.30pm as scheduled, but could be 30 minutes late arriving into Kirkwall and up to an hour late arriving into Aberdeen tomorrow.