Emergency hot-food supplies were taken to a Highland community yesterday as thousands of homes remained without electricity in the wake of the big storm.
Residents from around Stratherrick queued for free hot food and drinks after SSE engineers struggled to repair power lines in the area.
The company used a helicopter to scan the electricity network, and discovered “multiple” problems in the Stratherrick area.
As the big clear-up after Thursday’s 90mph winds and heavy rain continued, a new weather alert was issued – this time for widespread ice and snow showers.
The Met Office issued a yellow warning for ice across the region overnight into this morning, raising the possibility of treacherous roads.
And with temperatures turning milder by this afternoon, there could be the added danger of rain falling on to frozen surfaces, adding to the road skid risk.
About 20,000 people in the Highlands lost electricity at the height of the storms. SSE said yesterday that the majority of supplies had been restored overnight but about 2,000 people were still waiting yesterday.
They included residents in the Aviemore, Nairn, Drumnadrochit, Ardgay, and Beauly areas.
Stratherrick was one of many communities left without power on Thursday morning and, because of the prospect of repairs taking longer than elsewhere, SSE brought a catering van from Glasgow to Foyers.
A steady flow of residents were seen at the van, which was parked at the local medical centre.
Elspeth Hall, 67, of Lower Foyers, said the van was a “Godsend” after she had to eat crisps, chocolate and cereal during Thursday.
She could not get her car out of the garage because the door is electrically operated.
Mrs Hall said: “It has been cold and everyone is hungry. I have a small gas stove and others have been heating a kettle on their solid-fuel stoves. It just shows how dependent we are on electricity.”
And at the local shop, owner Jan Hargreaves and assistant Karen Birch were hoping to preserve as much of their chilled and frozen food as possible.
Ms Hargreaves said: “Lots of people have been checking on their neighbours and knocking on doors to tell them about the hot-food van. Everyone is pulling together.”
Highland Council convener Jimmy Gray praised council staff who had dealt with the impact of the extreme weather
He said: “Our full complement of winter maintenance staff were fully deployed from 5am yesterday onwards to clear trees, ploughing and gritting and on flood watch at Inverness and Caol at Fort William.
“We also had staff from building control, housing and education responding to emergency situations.
“These were exceptional conditions of high winds, very low temperatures and tidal surges which combined to create a very difficult situation – which thanks to the dedication and commitment of our staff, was dealt with.”