The gales eased today, but hail, snow, sleet and lightning strikes continued, with the result that the power was off three times during the night, each time only for a few minutes, and then finally died just before eleven this morning. The engineers from Scottish Hydro have been working hard to try to find the fault but, each time they thought they'd cracked the problem and tried to switch on the generator at Caim, just outside the village, it tripped. They finally got power back in Kilchoan a few minutes ago, just before eight this evening.
The engineers seem to have no way of finding the fault other than driving around looking at the wires. This picture comes from Kilchoan Early Bird and shows engineers working at the lighthouse, where there was a major lightning strike on Monday morning.
Reports of routers being incinerated and telephone lines lost continue to come in.
Although the wind dropped to gale and strong breeze, the waves at the west end of the peninsula continue to be spectacular - this picture courtesy again of Kilchoan Early Bird.
We've now had ten outages since Sunday evening, some lasting a few minutes, others for up to nine hours. The community is used to this sort of problem, but the gloom deepened late this morning when news came in of a fire at Kilmory which has destroyed a croft house. Fortunately, both the occupant and her animals escaped unscathed, but the Kilchoan and Acharacle Fire Stations were off duty as there weren't enough firefighters available, and it took Strontian an hour to reach the scene, by which time the house had been gutted.
I was about to post this when the power went again, the eleventh time since Sunday. It came on again an hour later.
Hope you stay safe and warm and the storms pass soon.
ReplyDeleteKilchoan fire crew had fire brigade medical in fort William . The reason we were unavailable.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the update, since I saw online about Mary's house my parents and I have been very worried. We have stayed in Balnaha Cottage many times over the years and were hoping to return next year. We are so relieved to know that Mary and her animals are safe. She is such a lovely woman, we have had so many wonderful holidays in Kilmory thanks to her. Would it be possible for you to pass on to her that we are really sorry to hear what has happened and are thinking of her. We hope to return to Kilmory for more memorable holidays. From Pam, Den and Joanne Ward
ReplyDeleteVery sad to hear about the fire. I find it unbelievable that the whole of the local fire brigade were all away at the same time for their medical. Surely this is something, that although essential, is done over a staggered period of time so as not to leave the locality without cover. It is very fortunate that there has been no loss of life / lives (to my knowledge). My thoughts are with those affected by the fire.
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