Tens of thousands left without power as Storm Otto hits leading to school closures and travel disruption

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for the whole of Scotland and parts of northeast England for strong winds.

In parts of north and northeast Scotland winds have been recorded as high as 83mph and 60 to 75mph in other areas and energy company SSEN said that around 30,000 properties are without power and could take two days to restore.

A Met Office spokesperson said: “The strong winds from Storm Otto will ease through the day as the low pressure moves out into the North Sea.

“After a relatively dry day with good sunny spells in places cloud will build from the west this evening before rain and snow move across most parts overnight.”

Mark Rough, operations director at SSEN Distribution, said: “Following the significant and continued impact of Storm Otto on our electricity distribution network in the north of Scotland, our engineers have been out since first light this morning to restore power to our customers.

“Despite the widespread nature of the storm, coupled with ongoing adverse weather conditions and challenges with access, our teams have made good progress restoring power to homes impacted. With wind speeds expected to subside from around midday, we expect to make significant progress throughout the course of today.

“However, due to the extent of damage, some customers are likely to remain off supply for over 48 hours. We’re working closely with our resilience partners to support local efforts as our teams work to reconnect supplies across our network area.

“I’d like to reassure our customers we’re doing everything we can to restore power as quickly as possible. I’d encourage anyone who may need additional support to contact our dedicated teams on the power cut helpline, 105.”

Forecasters said: “Rain and hill snow will ease in the early morning of Saturday, with some brightness, though rain will return later from the west. There will be some drizzly rain further south, but it will be mild with a few brighter spells by afternoon.

“Wet and windy conditions will return for the north of Scotland on Sunday as an area of low pressure skirts to the north of the UK.”