Scotland News
Drivers were injured, buildings were damaged and thousands of homes have been left without power as Storm Eowyn swept across Scotland.
One person was seriously hurt in a single vehicle collision in Mauchline, East Ayrshire at about 07:10 on Friday, while another was injured when a van was struck by a falling tree in Glasgow at about 09:00.
Almost 117,000 households are currently without power, while many transport services remain suspended.
A red weather warning for areas of central, southern and western Scotland expired at 17:00 but an amber wind alert is still in force on Friday evening.
Police Scotland said officers had responded to about 1,600 incidents related to the story by 18:00.
Officers were also called out when a 49-year-old man was discovered unresponsive on a street in Irvine, North Ayrshire, and died, but the incident was not thought to be weather-related.
The Scottish government’s resilience room met to assess the situation at 13:30 on Friday.
Afterwards First Minister John Swinney said utility companies were working at pace to restore power as quickly as possible.
But he said there were “still too many lorries on the road” and urged HGV drivers to heed police warnings not to travel.
A gust of 100.7mph was officially recorded at Drumalbin in South Lanarkshire while another of gust of 102mph was reported on the Tay Road Bridge.
People were urged against leaving their homes due to danger from flying debris, coastal overtopping, falling trees and damage to buildings.
Transport Scotland said the M9 had to be closed in both directions between J8 and 9 due to multiple fallen trees.
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes urged people still to take care on Friday evening as the red wind warning was downgraded to amber.
She told Radio Scotland’s Drivetime an amber warning was “still serious” and road users should heed the advice of police who continue to warn against travel.
Ms Forbes also said the emergency services should not be put at risk after it emerged officers responded to at least 11 incidents of lorries overturning due to high winds.
The deputy first minister also told the programme no employer should put employees under pressure to ignore police advice.
Forecasters issued a rare red warning ahead of Eowyn’s arrival and predicted the storm could be the most destructive to hit Scotland’s central belt in 13 years.
The full extent of the damage is still being assessed but there were numerous reports of damaged buildings and infrastructure.
ScotRail said customers should not expect any trains to operate before 12:00 “at the very earliest” on Saturday.
The train operator said items found on the line included a trampoline, a sofa, shed roofs and wheelie bins.
Ferry operator CalMac said services would remain suspended until at least 10:00 while it carried out safety inspections.
The gable end of a Co-op store at Denny near Falkirk collapsed but there were no reports of injuries.
Celtic Park was damaged during the storm and an inspection will take place in the morning to determine whether the club’s Scottish Premiership match against Dundee can go ahead.
In Inverclyde, Greenock Morton Football Club’s Cappielow ground has had sections of its roof ripped apart by the storm, while the roof of a leisure centre in Helensburgh has also been devastated by high winds.
Meanwhile, in Glasgow, a 400-year-old tree with connections to Mary Queen of Scots has also been severely damaged.
A number of branches on the Darnley Sycamore – said to be where Mary Stuart nursed Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley back to health after a long illness – were blown off during high winds.
Police in Edinburgh warned residents not to leave their homes and inspect damaged buildings due to the risk of further falling debris.
SP Energy Networks confirmed its engineers were working to restore power to 68,000 customers.
Power firm SSEN said it had restored services to more than 30,000 homes but, as of 17:45, a total of 48,940 were without power.
Forth Valley Royal Hospital was also affected by a brief power outage, during which it used back-up generators, but the issue has now been resolved.
Ferries, flights and rail services were cancelled, while police launched a dedicated operation to support lorry drivers stranded after booking onto sea crossings.
Police Scotland said the A1 was closed between the Spott Roundabout and Cockburnspath due to a “number of overturned vehicles”.
Sepa issued a number of flood warnings for Tayside as well as for Ayr to Troon.
Network Rail, which has responsibility for the railway lines and stations, said its engineers would be working around the clock into Saturday.
Inspections were taking place as the winds subsided, but it warned significant recovery work would be needed before trains could run again.
Ross Moran, Network Rail Scotland route director, said: “This storm has caused extensive damage across Scotland’s Railway bringing trees down onto the tracks and overhead powerlines and also damaging stations and other structures.”
Edinburgh Airport suspended all flights for the duration of the red weather warning, and warned of continuing disruption on Friday evening.
One flight from London Stansted early in the day attempted to land several times before abandoning its approach and diverting to Cologne, Germany, about 762 miles (1,226km) away.
Glasgow Airport operated a limited service, while all but a handful of flights from Aberdeen Airport – which faced an amber warning – were cancelled.
‘Once in a generation’ storm
While the red weather warning for areas of central, southern and western Scotland expired at 17:00, amber and yellow wind alerts remain in place until midnight.
The amber warning for wind continues until early on Saturday for northern Scotland.
There was also a yellow warnings for and ice which will affect the northern mainland and central belt into Saturday morning.
Snow will mainly be confined to high ground, above 200m, but accumulations of up to 5cm can be expected.
Scotland weather presenter Judith Ralston said a storm of such severity was a very rare event.
“This is an intense storm – once in a generation if not rarer,” she said.
