Storm Floris: Travellers warned to expect more disruption - as 22,000 still without power
Staff worked through the night to clear rail tracks blocked by fallen trees and debris after high winds affected roads, flights and ferries - and left thousands without power.
Tuesday 5 August 2025 09:51, UK
About 22,000 homes are still without power and there are more warnings of travel disruption after Storm Floris blew through Scotland on Monday.
Fifty-thousand homes are back up and running after the "unprecedented summer storm" but many are still without electricity, said Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN).
The Highlands, the Moray coast and Aberdeenshire were worst affected by the outages, but strong winds and heavy rain affected much of the country.
Helicopters are being used to assess damage to the network, but SSEN said this morning it would "take time" to get everyone back on the grid.
Monday's winds felled trees and power lines, closed roads and cancelled flights.
Winds of 82mph were also recorded at Wick airport near John O'Groats, provisionally equalling the highest-ever August gust in Scotland, while speeds over 70mph were clocked in various parts of the country.
Travel disruption from Floris looks set to continue today.
ScotRail warned problems on the trains would linger until about 4pm as tracks are checked to ensure they aren't blocked.
Customers are advised to check the latest updates online, but Network Rail said the following routes were particularly likely to be affected: Inverness and Wick / Aberdeen / Edinburgh / Glasgow Queen Street / Kyle of Lochalsh.
The Scottish government held an emergency meeting last night to discuss the travel and power disruption caused by the storm.
It said there were 119 storm incidents on the rail network on Monday, including 75 tree-related ones.
CalMac Ferries, which operates on Scotland's west coast, said on Tuesday that 15 of its 30 routes remained either disrupted or cancelled.
On the roads, Traffic Scotland said all trunk roads were open but a few restrictions remained, including no high-sided vehicles on the Kessock Bridge in Inverness.
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Police said on Monday there were "multiple reports" of camper vans blown over on the A87 between Broadford and Portree on Skye.
Trees also closed or disrupted several other routes, including the A95 Rosarie road, the A9 at Daviot and the A96 near Old Rayne.
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Floris also led to at least 68 flights being cancelled, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium, with Aberdeen and Belfast the worst-affected airports.
Paste BN weather producer Christopher England said Tuesday would be "much calmer", though still windy - see your local forecast here.