Over 90,000 properties lose power in Storm Amy

Storm Amy, the first storm of the 2025/2026 season, hit north-western parts of the UK on 3 and 4 October 2025. Over 40,000 properties in Scotland and 50,000 in Northern Ireland were reported to be without power, with work to restore supplies in some areas lasting several days¹.

The Met Office recorded gusts of 83Kt (96mph) at Tiree in Argyll and 80Kt (92mph) at Magilligan, County Londonderry. The Magilligan gust set a new highest maximum gust speed record for Northern Ireland for the month of October, although it fell well short of the record for any month, 108Kt (124mph) at Kilkeel on 12 January 1974. Twelve stations with 30+ year records set their highest October maximum gust speed on record. Baltasound in Shetland recorded a pressure of 947.9 hPa at 0500 UTC on 4 October, a new October record for the UK¹.

Heavy rain accompanied the winds: 50 to 75mm or more fell widely across northern areas on 3 October, and 100 to 150mm or more fell across western and northern upland areas in the first four days of the month. Fallen trees, flooding and debris disrupted transport across Scotland, with several rail lines closed including all services out of Glasgow. West coast ferry services and crossings to Northern Ireland were disrupted or cancelled, the Forth Road Bridge was closed to all vehicles, several flights were cancelled and Northern Ireland's rail services were suspended. All eight of London's Royal Parks were closed as a precautionary measure¹.

The two network operators gave different running totals as the incident developed.

NIE Networks said Storm Amy caused approximately 1,000 faults to its network, including broken overhead power lines, trees fallen on power lines and some broken poles³. SSEN said the storm damaged more than 700 separate parts of its network⁶.

Why it matters for households

Most of the homes still without power on the Monday and Tuesday were in the Highlands, with work also concentrated in Argyll, on Mull and in the Great Glen, Fort William and Ardnamurchan areas. SSEN said access routes blocked by fallen trees and storm debris hindered repairs, and that heavy rain on Monday caused further challenges⁴. NIE Networks said the majority of its affected properties were expected to be restored by the Sunday morning, with Monday evening the latest for circuits affecting very small numbers of customers, and warned that householders might see interruption or fluctuations as work continued³.

SSEN confirmed Storm Amy as a Category 2 Severe Weather Event under Guaranteed Standards of Service set by the regulator, Ofgem. Customers without power for more than 48 hours continuously receive a payment of £85 and a further £45 for each continuous 6-hour period without power thereafter. SSEN said these payments are issued automatically, without a claim, and that letters are sent separately to the cheques⁴. Customers without power for more than 12 hours are entitled to £30 per person for every day without power to cover food and drink, claimed with receipts; those on the Priority Services Register can claim reasonable costs for alternative accommodation after 24 hours without power, and where a power cut is confirmed to have lasted beyond 48 hours all customers can claim this support⁶. SSEN's Priority Services Register is free and open to customers who are over 60, have a disability or chronic illness, live with children under five, are deaf or hard of hearing, are blind or partially sighted, or use medical equipment reliant on electricity².

Both operators asked people to stay clear of damaged electrical equipment and report it: SSEN on 105 or its Power Track site, NIE Networks on 03457 643 643 or its website⁴. SSEN sent text messages to more than 180,000 more vulnerable customers before the storm arrived and made telephone calls to hundreds of the most vulnerable people in affected areas². Councils in the worst affected areas of Northern Ireland (Craigavon, Enniskillen, Omagh, Downpatrick, Ballymena and Dungannon) established Community Assistance Centres, with NIE Networks employees attending to provide information³. Our guides on restoration times and on storms and the electricity network explain how these outages typically unfold, and there is a separate guide to NIE Networks and reporting in Northern Ireland.

What happens next

SSEN said it was doing all it could to get the vast majority of homes back on by the end of Tuesday 7 October, but that for a few individual areas this could go into the following day, with those customers contacted directly⁶. It urged customers to submit reimbursement claims soon, saying teams expected a large number and would process them as soon as possible⁶. NIE Networks said its yellow wind alert was in place until midnight on Saturday 4 October and had the potential to affect restoration efforts and cause further damage³.