Power company SSE is flying in extra personnel into the Western Isles with nearly half the homes in the islands without electricity.
With ferries cancelled due to very rough seas, additional hydro personnel are being moved in by plane.
Two days of storms have battered and weakened the power grid across the Hebrides.
Hydro engineers are working in deteriorating weather including, heavy rain, hailshowers, wintry squalls and very cold temperatures.
Strong winds often make it impossible for engineers to work safely.
Hundreds of homes which were reconnected on Friday have lost power again after a second spell of violent winds swept over the islands.
At 5pm Saturday, some 6,143 island properties were without power. The figure is nearly double from last night.
Treacherous and worsening weather are hampering efforts to repair the electricity network, says utility firm SSE.
Despite mobilising extra engineers into the Hebrides as a contingency, utility firm SSE has been forced to draft in even more staff as the number of power cuts escalate.
Extra hydro workers flown in as number of powercuts rise
10 January 2015