UK weather: Engineers arrive in Shetland as thousands endure third day without power – amid more snow and ice warnings

More crews of engineers have arrived by ferry in Shetland to work on repairs as thousands of homes have gone a third day without power – as snow and ice continues to cause chaos across the UK.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution is working to reconnect some 2,800 homes in the region, but residents have been warned they could be without power until the end of the week as the cold snap continues to bite.

The Scottish government announced a major incident for Shetland on Tuesday after thousands of homes were left without power in plummeting temperatures.

An extra 15 power line crews arrived in Shetland on the first ferry from the mainland on Wednesday, SSEN Distribution said, adding that more are on the way – with 125 additional engineers in total expected to support local teams.

Mark Macdonald, head of region at SSEN Distribution, said: “Through great collaboration with resilience and travel partners, we’re getting teams, equipment, and large-scale generation on the island now to help us enact our restoration plan and make continued progress in restoring power to our customers.”

The company is also offering to reimburse food costs for all customers who are currently without power, as well as reasonable accommodation costs for customers on its priority services register who are unable to make alternative arrangements.

The Met Office has extended a yellow warning for snow and icy conditions covering northern Scotland and north-east England until noon on Friday.

Snow and ice warnings are also in place in the South West until 10am on Wednesday, meaning another tricky morning commute.

“There will be a risk of ice across the country over the next few days,” Met Office spokesperson Becky White said.

“There is a band of rain moving in from the South West, but it may turn into snow as it reaches land.”

She added the South West could see 1-2cm of snow at lower levels, and 1-10cms of snow at higher ground such as Dartmoor and Exmoor.

An ice warning is in place in eastern England and in northern parts of Northern Ireland, including Belfast, until noon on Wednesday.

According to the Shetland Times, the government’s “resilience room” has met to discuss the impacts of the power outages in the isles.

Power company SSEN Distribution is working to restore supplies, but warned full restoration is only likely by the end of the week.

Justice Secretary Keith Brown, lead minister for resilience, is reported to have said: “It is clear that many properties will face days without power.”

It comes as the body of a woman in Shetland, Scotland, was found on Tuesday following severe snowfall in the region, though it is not yet known if her death was related to the weather.

Check the forecast in your area

A temperature of -17.3C was recorded at Braemar in Aberdeenshire on Monday into Tuesday, making it the coldest place in the UK for the second night in a row.

Ms White said areas covered by the latest weather warnings could see up to 10cm of fresh snow on higher ground.

“We could see a good few new centimetres of snow accumulation,” she said. “Around 1-4cms at lower levels and 5-10cm on higher ground across the Highlands.”

Scores of schools across the UK were forced to close for a second day on Tuesday due to the cold weather, for reasons including heating failure, burst pipes and snow and ice.

In Sheffield, engineers said they had just over 100 households left to reconnect to gas as of Tuesday evening, after nearly 2,000 homes in the city lost supplies 11 days earlier when a burst water main filled the local gas network with more than a million litres of water.