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Sunday 11 January 2015

Thousands Still Without Power After Storms........

High winds cause huge waves to batter the harbour at PorthcawlNearly 20,000 have started a third day without power after snow, ice and strong winds have continued to batter Britain.
Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution (SHEPD) said on Sunday morning that 9,800 customers were still waiting for their power to come back on in the north and west of Scotland.
Engineers were "confident" that a significant number would be back on as the day went on and they were hopeful that the remaining customers would be reconnected by midnight.
But the supplier said that the speed at which the work could be carried out would depend on the ongoing weather conditions.
The worst-affected areas were the Western Isles, around Wick, Inverness-shire and around Dingwall.
SSE customers were also affected. Alan Broadbent, the firm's director of engineering, said: "Wherever it was safe to do so, our engineers worked through the night to carry out repairs.
"This really has become a fight with the weather - we have the people, the resources, the commitment, but what we really need is a bit of luck for the weather to let us do our job and bring comfort to our customers who had to endure such appalling disruption."
Scotland was lashed by winds of up to 113mph on Friday but conditions have continued to remain "treacherous" in some areas.
A SHEPD spokesman said that nearly 100,000 customers have been reconnected since Friday, when strong winds and rain battered the network.
Charity workers from the Red Cross have been working to reach vulnerable people and provide food, accommodation and generators where possible.
In England, two bodies have now been recovered after two people were swept out to sea in severe weather at Brighton.
Freddie Reynolds, whose body was pulled from the surf in Saltdean on Saturday, was swept out to sea as he tried to rescue his friend Dan Nicholls.
A body, which is believed to be missing Dan Nicholls, was found on the beach in Rottingdean, about three and a half miles east of Brighton's Palace Pier, at 8.10am on Sunday.
Initial investigations by officers found that Mr Nicholls had volunteered to stand by the sea as part of a dare following a night out in Brighton.
A driver died in Aberdeenshire where weather has been causing problems and police are investigating if it was a factor.
Two people were also taken to hospital after a car crash involving a gritter in South Ayrshire.
Yellow warnings of snow and ice have been issued for much of Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England, with accumulations of up to 8cm of snow expected on higher ground.
Several flood warning have been issued for the Anglia, Scotland, northeast and northwest England regions.

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