How Mid Argyll weathered Storm Éowyn

No part of the region was left unscathed when Éowyn hit last Friday, bringing wind gusts of up to 100mph to coastal areas and causing chaos in most towns and villages.

Conditions had calmed considerably by about 6pm on Friday but the destruction meant many parts of Kintyre, Islay, Jura, and Arran were left without electricity at the end of the day.

Although hundreds of engineers worked to restore power to affected areas as quickly as possible, the extent of the damage meant some places remained without electricity for up to five days, with parts of West Kintyre only being reconnected on Tuesday, and areas of Gigha remaining without power until Wednesday.

On the east coast of Kintyre, power was restored to the village of Skipness, but houses and businesses beyond it, where lines had been brought down, were still without power five days after the storm.

Tim James, Convener of Tarbert and Skipness Community Council, told us his home and smokehouse had lost power on Friday, and it still had not been restored by Tuesday afternoon. As a result, he has lost all his refrigerated and frozen fish, and is also out of pocket for wages for three members of staff.

"Skipness village was reconnected, but a few places have not been," he told us on Tuesday at 5pm. "There is a lot of destruction from the end of the village. Three pylons have snapped. We are right at the end of the line.

"The community is very grateful for all the work that has been done. No one is knocking those who are out in all weathers trying to fix it. It is the management I am after - the people at the top.

"SSEN are supposed to clear the lines of trees, but it was trees that brought down the line.

"When we were being courted by SSEN, who erected the very large pylons across the hills of Kintyre to Crossaig substation and onto Hunterston power station for national distribution, we were told this brings resilience to the local network as well. They said they would improve the infrastructure - they have not. It was no benefit to us whatsoever. They promise the world and deliver nothing."

When we checked in again on Tim on Wednesday morning, he told us power had been restored later on Tuesday evening.

An SSEN Distribution spokesperson said: “Storm Éowyn brought exceptional wind gusts to Kintyre, the likes of which the area hasn’t faced in many years. 

“We’d like to sincerely apologise to customers who had to wait longer for reconnection. The strength and sustained nature of last Friday’s storm-force winds caused widespread, serious network damage. In many areas, what we’ve undertaken over the past few days has been a wholesale reconstruction of multiple spans of the network, and this has taken some time.

“We understand the impact this has had on our customers, and we’re grateful for their patience while we have worked through repairs in the hardest-hit areas.

“In the area surrounding Skipness, the impact to the local distribution network’s overhead lines and wooden poles was so extensive that all potential means of rerouting supplies were damaged. This meant a number of different repairs needed to be carried out locally to reconnect customers.

“SSEN Distribution spends millions of pounds per year on tree cutting and is expanding its programme of frequent network inspections to assess clearances. When we undertake tree cutting and vegetation clearance works, we balance network resilience with environmental and aesthetic considerations. Landowner consent is also required.   

“Over £100million a year is being spent by SSEN Distribution to reinforce local electricity networks across our licence area in Scotland, to increase capacity and provide greater resilience in a changing, more volatile climate.”