ENERGY firms were last night battling to restore power to houses across Scotland after more than 60,000 homes suffered blackouts.

Hundreds of schools were closed, roads were blocked and trains and flights were in disarray as hurricane-strength winds of up to 165mph battered Scotland in the worst storms for two decades.

Seven out of 10 of the country's 2800 schools either did not open or were closed early and one in five of all flights in and out of Glasgow and Edinburgh airports was grounded. Hundreds of roads and every major bridge was closed.

As major clear-up operations began around the country today, forecasters warned of more travel misery with snowfalls and icy conditions. Parents were urged to listen for updates on the radio with most schools expected to re-open this morning.

The Met Office had placed Scotland on red alert before gusts of 165mph were recorded on the summit of Cairngorm in the Highlands. The figure was just short of the Scottish record of 173mph, set in 1986.

Winds of 105mph hit Tulloch Bridge in Inverness, while Glasgow and Edinburgh were battered by gusts of up to 80mph. Emergency services dealt with thousands of alerts, including fallen trees, collapsed roofs, overturned lorries and flooded roads.

Strathclyde Police were dealing with more than 500 weather-related incidents at one stage.

Motorists and pedestrians were warned by police not to put themselves at risk by venturing outside. A 34-year-old woman motorist died in a collision with a bus in Kennoway, Fife, but police could not immediately confirm it was weather-related.

The chaos was summed up by a dramatic image, taken by local photographer Stuart McMahon, of sparks and flames shooting from a burning wind turbine near Ardrossan, Ayrshire.

Promenades in Ayr, Girvan, Newton, Prestwick and Troon were closed to the public as 30ft waves crashed on to seafronts.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said, after chairing a meeting of the Scottish Government's resilience committee last night: "While the worst of the weather has subsided across the central belt, other areas are still experiencing severe conditions.

"Contractors are working hard to resolve remaining issues on our roads and with power supplies.

"I would urge all members of the public to heed advice from police and travel authorities."

Ms Sturgeon said the NHS was coping well, but there were power outages at Belford Hospital in Fort William and at Victoria Hospital on Rothesay. A day surgery unit at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy was evacuated after part of the roof blew off.

ScottishPower, which had more than 600 engineers working on repairs, described the conditions as "easily some of the worst winds we have faced in 15 years".

A spokesman said: "The problem is we can't get to some of these places because of debris in the road. Our engineers had problems standing up because the winds are so strong."

In the central belt about 8000 homes had no electricity at 9.30pm yesterday. The energy firm said 2000 could still be without supplies overnight.

In Perthshire, 18,000 homes were without power by tea-time. Scottish and Southern Energy said 500 engineers were trying to restore supplies.

Motorists who dared to venture out were warned of flash flooding across the Highlands and Islands.

ScotRail had to cut services operating a temporary timetable, while Network Rail trains set a speed limit of 50mph.

Aberdeen-Inverurie, Glasgow-Dunblane, Edinburgh and Glenrothes rail services were cancelled.

All CalMac ferries including those scheduled between North Uist, Harris, Mull, Islay, Gigha, Coll, Tiree and Arran were cancelled.

As the Forth, Tay, Skye and Erskine road bridges were closed.

Glasgow University and Glasgow Caledonian University, were closed and classes were cancelled at Strathclyde University, as were museums, galleries, sports centres and libraries.

In other incidents, shoppers were unhurt after Christmas lights in Aberdeen's Union Street ripped out a huge chunk of granite. A school bus overturned on the A737 in Dalry and a lorry was blown over on the A87 at Glenshiel.