BACK-TO-BACK storms have forced schools to close and cut power to thousands of Scots.
A cold and blustery start to Monday follows a stormy weekend of devastating winds across the north of England and Scotland.
A nine-year-old boy in Staffordshire and a 60-year-old woman in Aberdeen died after trees were torn down during Storm Malik on Saturday.
Storm Corrie hit a day later and its gusts are set to slowly moving away on Monday morning.
Winds of 92mph were recorded in Stornoway, on the Western Isles, while there were also winds that hit 80mph over wide areas of the country.
Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said: “That is exceptionally strong for any time of the year and there is no wonder there were significant impacts such as power outages and damage to buildings. It is very unfortunate that things were worse than that for some people.”
Several schools in Aberdeenshire said they will be shut or delay opening on Monday as they struggled with power and heating problems.
Around 37,000 homes were without power as of Monday morning, with rail and ferry travel severely disrupted.
Storm Corrie moved eastwards across Scotland on Sunday and pushed across the North Sea in the early hours of Monday.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned the impact of Storm Corrie is “likely to be significant”.
She tweeted on Sunday: “Work to repair the damage from Storm Malik continues. Tens of thousands have had power reconnected already – however, many will remain off supply again tonight and some, especially in north east, could be off into Tuesday. Welfare arrangements are in place.
“Special arrangements remain in place for vulnerable customers and local resilience partnerships continue to work with councils to provide welfare support.”
Weather warnings for wind across northern parts of Scotland are in force.
Forecasters said that people should beware of flying debris that could lead to injuries, and there may be some damage to buildings including tiles being blown from roofs.
Burkill said: “It is not just the case of strong winds causing problems – there is also the ice risk across parts of Scotland through to the early part of Monday morning.
“There will be some wintry showers. Emergency services are trying to get out, utility companies are trying to make repairs and so the icy conditions are not going to make that easier for them.”
1/ Just chaired another @scotgov resilience meeting on weather. There are amber/yellow @metoffice warnings in place for all of Scotland as Storm #Corrie sets in - please heed the warnings and take care. Impacts from the storm are likely to be significant tonight & into tomorrow
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) January 30, 2022
Ice warnings were issued by the Met Office covering Grampian, Highlands and Eilean Siar, Strathclyde and Fife on Monday as falling temperatures after Storm Corrie may see some snowfall and turn untreated surfaces icy.
Some 7500 households were expected to be without power by the end of Sunday, the Scottish Government said in an update at 7pm.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “The power companies have drafted in a large number of additional engineers and are making significant inroads into reconnecting customers.
“However, we need to be aware that the arrival of Storm Corrie could hamper these efforts and add further problems.
“For those who will unfortunately not have power tonight, support with alternative accommodation is available to anyone who needs it.”
Richard Gough, of Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), said “we expect the full restoration of customer supplies from both storms to extend into the early part of next week”.
Rural Aberdeenshire is among the hardest-hit areas and some customers in Angus, the Highlands, the Moray coast and Perthshire were still waiting for supplies to be restored.
ScotRail withdrew all of its services on Sunday night in an effort to “protect passengers and railway staff”.
Network Rail Scotland, which said that “all parts of the railway are working together”, added that any other trains that ran on Sunday night had a maximum speed of 40mph.
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