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Hundreds of homes were hit by power cuts as a storm battered the Western Isles.

 

Some 650 premises in South Lochs and Uig in Lewis, Grimsay in North Uist, and villages in North Harris were left without electricity.

 

The Bràighe roadway in Lewis linking the Point peninsula to the rest of the island was shut for over three hours as waves crashed over the sea wall, covering the road with rocks and debris.

 

Stornoway coastguard volunteers stood guard until the tide receded around lunchtime allowing a partial re-opening with a single file of cars following a lead vehicle in a convoy system.

 

Area commander, Gordon Macleod, of Police Scotland, said the storm resulted in “road closures on the Bràighe, some structural damage around Stornoway and outlying areas, and we have had reports of power outages in some pockets of the community.”

 

 

 

 

Hundreds without power as storm lashes Western Isles

20 December 2016

Powerful waves smash over the Bràighe roadway

The horrendous forecast “left us with a dilemma and it was important to get supplies of turkey in for our customers for Christmas,” said owner, Kenneth Macleod. A speedy transfer of poultry meat on the quayside at 2am allowed the butchers to catch the ferry for the return voyage.

 

Anxious to ensure customers would secure their traditional Christmas dinner, a Stornoway butcher undertook a special midnight turkey run to the mainland.

 

Correctly predicting Tuesday’s ferries would be cancelled thus suppliers had no chance of getting to the island, Macleod and Macleod butchers despatched a van on the overnight freight ship to Ullapool.

Coastguard volunteers manned the closure points on the Bràighe  

Butcher Kenneth Macleod

Part of the roof at Tesco supermarket in Stornoway has been damaged by high winds with ropes rigged up to secure any debris.