A major power cut knocked out 26,000 properties in the Western Isles and Skye.
Wi-fi, mobile signal and digital phone which rely upon a stable electricity supply
were also down.
Vehicles were stuck on board MV Hebrides on arrival at Lochmaddy when the power stopped the linkspan from working.
Portree High School, Portree Primary School, and Bun-sgoil Ghàidhlig Phort Rìgh did
not open due to the fault.
All homes in the Western Isles were impacted as the power is routed from the mainland through north Skye and then by subsea cables to Harris and Lewis, and Uist and Barra.
SSE diesel power stations in Lochcarnan and Stornoway fired up to provide a temporary local supply within the islands with different districts reconnected as the morning progressed.
Not all properties in Skye lost power while some were only without electricity for a very brief period.
An SSEN spokesperson said: “At around 5am this morning, a fault occurred on the transmission network affecting the Fort Augustus to Skye 132kV overhead line, which caused a loss of supply to around 26,000 customers in parts of Skye and in the Western Isles.
“As at 11am this morning, SSEN Distribution has safely reconnected supplies to all households affected.
“We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.
“Teams from SSEN Transmission continue to investigate the cause of the fault before safely carrying out any repairs and restore the network to normal operations.”
Western Isles hit by major power cut
4 October 2024