ABOUT 10,000 homes in Scotland were still without power last night in the aftermath of Thurday's storm that also caused the biggest tidal surge in 60 years to hit the east coast of England.
Seven cliff-top homes were destroyed or badly damaged in Hemsby, on the Norfolk coast, as the high tide eroded the cliff below, while Lincolnshire was hit by serious flooding,
In Scotland, many schools remained closed yesterday, particularly in Shetland.
The 10,000 homes still without power were a fraction of the number affected at the peak of the problems on Thursday.
Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution was working to restore power to its remaining 6500 customers without it in rural areas and provide hot meals and welfare support.
The main areas that continued to be affected included the rural areas in and around Glenmoriston, the island of Jura, Crinan, Dunoon, Inverneil, near Lochgilphead, and Campbeltown. Tarbert, Deeside, Elgin, Huntly, Nairn and Aberfeldy were also affected.
Further south, more than 650 ScottishPower engineers were working to reconnect about 3500 homes, having already reconnected 46,500 since the storm began.
The areas worst affected by supply problems were in Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders, but faults were reported across most areas, including Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and the Lothians.
Guy Jefferson, ScottishPower's Network Operations director, said: "Our overhead network sustained more damage in a single day than we would normally see in three months. By working flat-out we have managed to repair a third of the faults on Thursday and reconnect more than 46,000 customers."
A lorry driver who was killed when his HGV overturned was named as Robert Dellow, 54, from Lowestoft, Suffolk. Mr Dellow was driving along the A801, one mile north of the Boghead Roundabout, West Lothian, during the peak of the storm at rush hour when he was involved in the crash.
Meanwhile, the rail network returned to normal after being completely shut down the day before, and virtually all ferry services were operating again.
Insurance companies said it was too early to estimate how much the storm damage would cost, but Aviva's deputy claims director Rob Townend said: "The high winds have caused significant damage to property."
In England, the Environment Agency said its flood defences protected at least 800,000 homes, but about 1400 were flooded, including 300 in Boston, Lincolnshire.
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