More than 22,000 properties are without electricity in the Highlands and north-east of Scotland as Storm Floris hits the country with high winds.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said it is working to restore power to 22,500 properties while more are expected to be impacted later in the day.

SSEN is the network operator for the north of Scotland.

The company says it has hundreds of extra staff working but it may not be able to reconnect everyone by the end of the day.

SSEN’s director of customer operations Andy Smith said: “Storm Floris is the strongest summer storm we’ve seen in a very long time and it’s causing significant disruption to power supplies today.

“At the height of summer, we’ve mounted an operation that’s comparable in size to the ones we mobilise when a storm hits during the depths of winter, but the sustained nature of these damaging winds means some affected customers may be without power overnight.”

He added: “Remember - you can report faults to us by calling 105 at any time, or via the Power Track website or app.

“And please - if you come across any network damage, stay well back and inform us immediately.”

Scottish Green co-leader Lorna Slater says Storm Floris – which is brining unseasonal weather to parts of the UK – shows the need for urgent action to tackle the climate crisis.

Slater said:

We should not be seeing storms like this in August, but with climate chaos around us these kinds of scenes will only become more common and more severe.

I urge everyone to stay safe and follow the guidance from the emergency services who are working to protect us all. I also urge employers to support workers who are being impacted by the storm and ensure that they are not being put in harm’s way or being asked to go into it unnecessarily.

Our weather has been all over the place this summer, with heat waves and wild fires giving way to storms and everything in between. We cannot let this be our future.

The truth is that the more urgent the crisis has become the less our governments are doing to address it. We need a focus on mitigations and defences, but we also need leaders who are willing to take the local and international action that is needed to climate-proof our future.

Climate action is not just about managing our temperatures, it is about protecting people and the services we all rely on and ensuring that we have a society that is built to cope.

Here are some more pictures of the damage caused by Storm Floris:

Network Rail says power has been lost to part of the overhead wires on the west coast main line as it battles with disruption from Storm Floris.

The west coast main line between Motherwell and Newton in South Lanarkshire was affected by the outage.

In another incident, lines in Inverclyde were affected by a loss of power between Bishopton and Paisley.

In Scotland, police have warned drivers to stay away from two roads in Aberdeenshire and the western highlands, which were blocked by fallen trees and overturned campervans respectively.

Edinburgh Zoo has announced it is fully closed for the rest of the day due to “escalating wind speed”.

Angus council closed all its recycling centres from midday and said this morning that its bin collections would also be suspended from midday.

While its council buildings remain open, the Scottish council asked people to “consider whether they need to attend any of our council buildings”. You can read more here.

In a post on X published about three and a half hours ago, Glasgow city council said that “all non-emergency operations” were to be suspended until at least 2pm (this would include refuse and recycling collections). The council is yet to post a further update on whether or not these services have resumed or not.

A road in Aberdeenshire has been closed in both directions after a number of trees fell on as a result of Storm Floris.

With high winds hitting Scotland, police advised drivers to avoid the A96 between Huntly and Inverurie.

Police Scotland said: “The A96 is closed in both directions near Old Rayne between Huntly and Inverurie due to several fallen trees.

“All road users are advised to avoid the area.

“We are advising the public to plan ahead and consider delaying travel until conditions improve.”

A fire has been reported on overhead lines at a train station in the south of Glasgow.

Engineers have been called out to other incidents as Storm Floris brings travel disruption across Scotland, with trees falling onto tracks.

Network Rail said: “We’re responding to reports of a fire on the overhead wires near Kings Park station in Glasgow’s south side.

“Our local team are arranging a response to check this out as quickly as we can.”

Earlier, a fallen tree was blown onto the overhead wires at Cornton level crossing, near Stirling.

A number of campervans have been blown over on the A87 road, which leads to Portreee on the Isle of Skye, as Storm Floris hit Scotland.

Police are advising drivers to stay away from the Bealach na Ba road in Wester Ross due to the high rinds.

Police Scotland said: “We have received multiple reports of campervans being blown over on the A87 between Broadford and Portree due to high winds caused by Storm Floris.

“We are advising motorists not to travel on the Bealach na Ba road and anyone with campervans should remain parked in sheltered areas until the wind speed reduces.”

Met Office forecaster Peter Sloss has told BBC Radio Scotland’s Lunchtime Live Storm Floris is “very unusual” for August.

“I think we’ve had five named storms, since the naming process started a number of years ago in August.

“This one really is the most powerful of these storms that we’ve seen.”

The forecaster said we are “sort of in unchartered territory at the moment”.

Here are some more images that have been sent to us over the newswires that show the impact of Storm Floris:

Network Rail Scotland have posted to X saying its engineers are dealing with fallen trees on tracks in the west of the country.

“The team are responding to fallen trees at both Robroyston and Stepps on the Glasgow Queen Street – Cumbernauld route, and we’ve had a report of minor damage to the overhead wires,” it wrote in one social media post.

In another update, Network Rail Scotland wrote:

We’ve removed these fallen trees from the tracks at Giffnock, which have damaged our fencing. The team are now heading for Summerston, where a fallen tree is blocking the line there.

Edinburgh Castle, one of the city’s main tourist attractions, has been shut because of the adverse weather conditions forecasted to brought by Storm Floris.

In a statement on its website, it says: “Unfortunately the castle will be closed on Monday 4 August due to forecast amber weather warnings from Storm Floris.”

Here are some of the latest images being sent to us across the newswires after a yellow warning for northern England, Wales, Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland began at 06:00 BST.

Weather alerts remain in place across the island of Ireland for strong winds after Storm Floris arrived overnight:

The Met Office says wind gusts of 50 to 70 mph are expected for many parts of Scotland and are likely to reach 80 to 90 mph on some exposed coasts, hills and bridges.

Here is an infographic showing the different Storm Floris weather warnings and what they mean for affected areas:

The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for high winds across much of Scotland today, which will be in force between 10am and 10pm on Monday.
The areas affected are:
• Highlands & Eilean Siar (Highland, Na h-Eileanan Siar)
• Central, Tayside & Fife (Angus, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Falkirk, Fife, Perth and Kinross, Stirling)
• Grampian (Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray)
• South East Scotland ( East Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian Council, Scottish Borders, West Lothian)
• Strathclyde (Argyll and Bute, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire)

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo performance this evening has been cancelled due to Storm Floris.

Edinburgh Tattoo wrote in a post on X:

We’re sorry to announce that due to adverse weather warnings, we have made the difficult decision to cancel tomorrow’s performance on 4 August at 9:30 pm. We understand this will be disappointing, but the safety of our audience, performers and staff is our top priority.

The annual variety show, traditionally set against the iconic backdrop of Edinburgh Castle, is due to take place this year through Monday to Saturday between 1 and 23 August.

ScotRail has also asked anyone with garden equipment such as trampolines to keep them secure, as Storm Floris begins to hit Scotland.

Posting to X, the rail operator said:

We’re asking anyone with garden equipment, such as tents, trampolines or furniture, to secure items so that they don’t blow onto the tracks and interfere with lineside equipment.

We have some more comments from Jim Dale, the founder of the British Weather Services who has been speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning.

The meteorologist said:

Remember this is summertime: people are milling around on holiday, bank holiday in Scotland, for example.

So some ‘summer articles’, if you like, in gardens, on the beaches, are all going to be there: slides, picnic tables, swings, all ready to be thrown around by the wind. That’s the danger that we’ve got at this moment in time.

These ones (alerts) are put out for very, very good reason. If you are venturing out: keep away from the forest, keep away from the woods, keep off the coastal plain … It’ll become extremely rough on those coasts as the high tide comes in.

We aren’t getting many images in yet but our picture services have sent these from Blackpool today.