TENS of thousands of people across Scotland have spent a second night without power in the aftermath of Storm Floris on Monday.

Households were left without electricity as 90mph gusts savaged the electrical networks, particularly those in more exposed areas in the north of Scotland.

Hundreds of Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks Distribution (SSEN) engineers have worked around the clock and succeeded in restoring service to 68,000 homes since the storm, but the firm estimates as many as 3,900 are still without power.

Andy Smith, SSEN’s director of customer operations for the north of Scotland, said: “Storm Floris has been unusually powerful, especially for a storm at this time of year.

“It’s brought down many trees that have endured several previous storms, and it’s caused some network damage.

“I’d like to thank our customers for their understanding and patience while we go about this massive task; we’re doing our best to give people realistic, informed estimates of when we’ll get their power back on.

“I’m also grateful to the teams from our contract partners and other network operators for supporting our effort.”