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Storms take their tolls on ancient Caledonian pines at Highland Folk Museum


By Gavin Musgrove

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Some of the storm damage caused to the old pines at the Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore. Picture: HFM
Some of the storm damage caused to the old pines at the Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore. Picture: HFM

The tidy-up operations are under way after the heavy tolls taken by Storm Corrie on trees in the strath,

The Highland Folk Museum's tall Caledonian pines were particularly hit hard.

Newtonmore resident Frances Wilkins told the Strathy: "Newtonmore has lost two tall trees that were a landmark for the end of the village when travelling towards Kingussie. They were in our garden.

"Parts of them are still horizontal but most had to be cut up by the A86 by first the fire brigade and then road contractors Bear Scotland.

"There is now even a view to the hills from the Highland Folk Museum that wasn't there before."

A museum spokesperson said on social media: "Storm Corrie has sadly caused a lot of damage to our pinewoods here at the museum.

"We are currently awaiting assessments on the damage and we will then be able to begin to plan the next stage of clearing and restoring the pinewood.

"We know a lot of you will be as upset as we are by what has happened so we will keep you all up to date with plans as they progress.

"Thank you for all your messages of support."

Some of the debris at the side of the A86 in Newtonmore.
Some of the debris at the side of the A86 in Newtonmore.

A spokeswoman for folk museum operators High Life Highland said: "There has been some damage at Highland Folk Museum with some trees brought down by the high winds this weekend.

"We are currently awaiting a survey by expert colleagues to fully assess the damage.”

Meanwhile teams from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks worked throughout the night and are continuing this morning to reconnecting the final homes affected by the extreme weather of Storms Malik and Corrie.

Wind gusts in excess of 90mph were recorded in Aberdeenshire as the two storms tracked across the region over the weekend.

As of 12.30pm today, SSEN has restored power to more than 120,000 homes across the North of Scotland including all faults reported as a consequence of Storm Malik, with around 50 properties remaining off supply across the low voltage network in Aberdeenshire related to Storm Corrie.

The operations are continuing to remove the damaged trees from the area. These trees were chainsawed and removed earlier in the week from by the folk mueseum.
The operations are continuing to remove the damaged trees from the area. These trees were chainsawed and removed earlier in the week from by the folk mueseum.

A spokesperson for the energy giant said: "SSEN’s teams remain committed to reconnecting these final customers as quickly and safely as possible.

"Engineers and overhead line teams will continue to respond to all known faults and restore power to all remaining homes today.

"SSEN’s customer support teams are in contact with all customers known to be without power to offer further support where required.

"A number of additional localised low voltage faults have been identified through the restoration process in the last 24 hours and teams have conducted line patrols to ensure visibility of all power interruptions and network damage at a local level.

"Customers who remain without power and have neither reported their fault or been in contact with SSEN and should contact the 105 power cut helpline."

SSEN is continuing to provide welfare provisions in the region but these are now mainly only required in Aberdeenshire and Donside.

SSEN continues to urge customers not to approach any damage to its equipment and instead, report it to SSEN by calling 105 or via its Power Track App and engineers will investigate as soon as possible.

Richard Gough, Director of Distribution System Operations at SSEN, said: “I would like to thank customers for their continued patience and reassure them that every effort is being made to restore their power as quickly and safely as possible.

"We continue to work closely with local resilience partnerships in Aberdeenshire to support the welfare effort for customers who remain off supply.

“Conditions have been extremely challenging for our teams but we are continuing to work throughout today to safely connect the final few homes.

"I would also like to recognise the effort and dedication of SSEN teams and engineers from Distribution Network Operators from across the UK and Ireland who continue to work hard in difficult conditions to restore power safely to communities across the North of Scotland.”


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