Lightning strikes cause further power cuts

Two-hundred homes across Orkney are without power this morning after last night’s lightning storms.

Scottish Hydro Electric’s local area manager, Stevie Burns, has reported this morning that throughout this week engineers have been notified of an estimated 40 separate incidents – the majority of which were due to lightning strikes.

Mr Burns said that last night’s lightning storms caused powercuts in homes throughout the county, from Burray to Westray, but that it  expected most will have power restored by tonight.

The bulk of the power problems were due to fuses being tripped, he said, although more serious damaged has also occurred, with damage to cables and hydro poles being done in some cases.