Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has said that is remains at red alert status as its teams continue to respond to widespread and extensive damage to its north of Scotland electricity network caused by Storm Arwen.

Throughout the night and into this morning, SSEN have made progress in restoring power to around 9,500 customers, including the main network supply to the following locations: Killin in Perthshire, Alford and parts of Aboyne in Aberdeenshire

Since the start of Storm Arwen at around lunchtime on Friday, power has been restored to 98,000 customers in total, with 24,000 customers currently off supply.

Faults affecting the following locations are currently being worked on and our teams will continue to work into the evening to carry out repairs, subject to no new damage being identified or any unforeseen difficulties –

• Aberdeenshire: Braemar, Ballater, Kintore, Fyvie, Rothienorman, New Deer, Dyce, Methlick, Tarland, Blackburn, Forgue, Hatton, Cuminestown, Dunecht, St. Cyrus and Fettercairn,

• Moray: Duffus, Alvah, Deskford, Collieston, Boyndie, Dufftown

• Angus: Maryton, Monikie and Edzell

• Perthshire: Milnathort, Grange, Braco and Glencarse

For all other locations that remain off supply and are not listed above, we do not expect power to be restored before tomorrow at the earliest. For localised faults, affecting single households and groups of houses, this will unfortunately extend beyond tomorrow and we are advising customers in this situation to consider alternative arrangements, if possible.

SSEN said: "We would like to apologise to all customers for the ongoing disruption and assure them that we are doing all we can to restore power and that we are deploying all available resources to focus on this effort."

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SSEN continues to work closely with local and national resilience partners to help coordinate the community response. As part of this, support is being prioritised for the most vulnerable Priority Services Register customers, such as those dependent on medical equipment, where SSEN is making alternative arrangements where possible.

This includes liaising with local resilience partners to share details of Priority Services customers who will remain off supply overnight to coordinate support where required. Rest Centres have also been established at the following locations:

• Ballater at the Victoria and Albert Hall

• Eassie & Nevay Hall

• Fintry, Knockraich Farm

• Strathyre Primary School

• Aberfoyle Primary School

• Doune Primary School

In addition, the following welfare facilities will continue to support customers who remain off supply and will continue to provide hot food and drinks throughout the course of the day, with teams from SSEN using 4X4 vehicles to deliver hot food and drinks to customers on SSEN’s Priority Services Register in some of the more remote and isolated communities:

• Dalrulzion Hotel, Glenshee

• Kirriemuir, near Bon Scott Statue

• Aboyne, The Green

• Cruden Bay, Main Street

• Strichen, Strichen Park

• Keith, Curry Contractors Yard (outskirts of Keith)

• Kintore, Primary School

• St Combs, Community Hall

• Turriff, Tesco car park

Mark Rough, Director of Customer Operations at SSEN, said: "The severity and prolonged nature of Storm Arwen has caused widespread and extensive damage to our network in the north east of Scotland, with significant and challenging conditions resulting in multiple instances of damage to several overhead line circuits.

"We continue to make good progress carrying out repairs and restoring power, with additional 9,500 customer supplies restored overnight and into this morning. We are committed to restoring power to as many customers today as possible, but given the complexity and scale of the situation some customers will continue to be without power overnight.

"The extent of damage means the repair work needed is complex and often requires lengthy clearance of access just to reach the problem areas, with substantial tree cutting and re-erection of overhead network infrastructure.

"We continue to work closely with our local resilience partners to prioritise support for our most vulnerable customers. We would encourage any customer with a vulnerability who has concerns about remaining off supply, or if you have concerns about a vulnerable relative or neighbour, please give our teams a call on 105.

"We would once again like to thank our customers for their continued patience and understanding in what continues to be very challenging circumstances."

SSEN is urging people to not approach any damage to its equipment and instead, report it to SSEN by calling 105 or via its Power Track App and engineers will investigate as soon as possible.