Travel disruption amid snow and rain warnings – BBC News

Snow and rain has caused travel disruption across Scotland as the country continues to recover from Storm Gerrit.

A yellow weather warning in place for most of Scotland, from 08:00 on Saturday has now expired.

The Met Office alert covered Grampian, the Highlands and Western Isles, central, Tayside and Fife.

Forecasters say high ground areas in Scotland are likely to see “significant snow”, with possibly 10 to 20cm.

Travel disruption included:

More than 48,000 properties lost power supplies due to damage caused by Storm Gerrit.

Power company SSEN said all customers were now reconnected after it restored supplies to the final 250 homes in “small pockets” across Aberdeenshire, Perthshire and The Great Glen by 23:00 on Friday.

Andy Smith, operations director at SSEN Distribution, said: “Storm Gerrit caused serious disruption across the north of Scotland, and I would like to say thank you to our customers for their patience while we worked through some particularly challenging conditions to reconnect them, as quickly and safely as possible.

“I’m very proud of the work undertaken by SSEN’s operational teams, and for being out at all hours and in all weathers to find and fix the faults over the past few days. I would also like to extend my gratitude to our contract partners and fellow network operators for how they supported our response.”

He added that customers who lost power can apply for compensation which was dependent on how long they were without supplies.

Meteorologist Craig Snell said Saturday would be a “difficult day to travel”.

“It’s going to be another unsettled day. We’ve got heavy rain moving across the north west of the country, with snow falling in higher areas of Scotland,” he said.

“Rain will move across the rest of the UK tonight.

“We’re likely to see gusts of 50mph in Wales and southern England, with the most exposed areas getting wind speeds of 65-75mph. There could be some road closures if branches come off trees.”

Two people were rescued in Glen Tilt after becoming stuck in heavy snow.

Mountain Rescue teams were dispatched late on Thursday evening to locate the walkers who were caught in difficult conditions.

Braemar Mountain Rescue said both had been successfully “escorted” south.

The Met Office said its Irish counterpart, Met Eireann, could name another storm – Storm Henk – as a “deep area of low pressure” pushes strong winds across the Republic of Ireland on Saturday.