Lightning knocks out power

An hour-long power cut affected approximately 2,500 households in the county yesterday, Monday.

Initially 1,500 customers on Rousay, Eday and Westray, and in parts of the Orkney Mainland, lost power between 2pm and 3pm. Scottish and Southern energy (SSE) engineers were able to re-route the network but an additional 1,000 houses were briefly affected while the engineers made the repairs.

SSE have reported that the power cut was caused by lightning, which caused a protective system to trip.

All repairs were completed by 10pm last night.