Scotland weather: Storm Amy continues to wreak havoc in Scotland following travel chaos, power cuts and floods

It follows a treacherous Friday night when much of the country was covered by weather alerts with wind gusts coming close to 100mph.

As of 7.30am on Saturday, some 62,000 homes across the country were without power.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said it had restored supplies to 16,500 as engineers worked through the night, but with further high winds expected today, the electricity company said further disruption was expected.

Fraser Wilson, of SSEN, told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “Work will continue this morning to get 62,000 people reconnected.

“We expect because of the extent of damage to the network and conditions we are still going to be facing today that this will take some time, this storm is not over by any means.”

According to the Met Office, the highest recorded gust on Friday was at Tiree, in the Hebrides, at 96mph.

The north of Scotland was covered by an amber warning for wind until 9pm on Saturday with yellow warnings covering the whole of Scotland, while further yellow warnings for rain are in place in north and west Scotland until midnight.

Traffic Scotland reported a lengthy list of road closures due to the bad weather with the Forth Road Bridge closed in both directions, while the Skye Bridge, Queensferry Crossing and Clackmannanshire Bridge were closed to high-sided vehicles.

The Tay Road Bridge reopened early on Saturday with a 30mph speed restriction and remained closed to high-sided vehicles.

The M9 eastbound near Stirling was among many stretches of roads closed because of falling trees, while the A78 at Skelmorlie has reopened after being closed for a spell overnight because of flooding.

ScotRail anticipated that some disruption to services would extend into Saturday, and possibly Sunday, while Network Rail carries out safety checks for obstructions on the line and damage to any infrastructure. National Rail warned of possible disruptions throughout the UK on Saturday.

All services via Glasgow Central and Glasgow Queen Street were suspended on Friday night and are not expected to operate until at least lunchtime on Saturday.

Network Rail Scotland route director Ross Moran said more than 60 incidents of flooding, fallen trees and debris on the tracks were reported across the network in the first two hours of the storm.

“Storm Amy has hit parts of the country much harder and more quickly than expected,” he said.

Avanti West Coast warned of “short-notice changes” on Saturday and “strongly recommended” customers making journeys north of Preston to check for updates before travelling.

CalMac Ferries said it expected many services to be disrupted on Saturday, with many routes cancelled, and into Sunday.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency had 30 flood warnings in place on Saturday.

The Met Office said wind and rain was expected to ease throughout the evening for much of the country, but severe gales are forecast to continue in north east Scotland with a yellow warning for wind in place from midnight until 9am on Sunday, covering the Orkney and Shetland Islands, Highlands, Aberdeenshire and Moray.

Sunday is expected to turn dry and less windy with sunny spells for most areas, but outbreaks of rain developing in the north west.