Thousands of homes continue to be without power as disruption from Storm Arwen stretches into a fourth day.

Energy officials said the damage had been so bad that some overhead lines will need to be built – while the impact of the storm had been “one of the worst” in the last 20 years.

Many schools are closed and some centres providing jabs as part of the COVID vaccination programme have also been hit amid disruption across Scotland, Northern Ireland and northeast England.

The problems caused by Storm Arwen, which brought gusts of nearly 100mph (161kmph) and saw three people killed by falling trees, is expected to last into at least the middle of the week for some areas due to the severity of the damage.

Along with the strong winds, heavy snow saw lorries getting stuck and ploughs being used as many roads became blocked.

Many properties have been without electricity since Friday with hot food and drink supplies being arranged as the disruption continues.

All schools in Aberdeenshire will be closed on Monday and Tuesday with numerous other closures reported in Scotland and in Northumberland and County Durham.

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Northern Powergrid, the company responsible for the electricity network across the North East, Yorkshire and parts of Lincolnshire, said it had managed to restore power to 211,000 of the 240,000 customers who had experienced power supply problems.

The damage was so extensive that in some cases, large sections of overhead lines will need to be rebuilt in order to restore supplies.

Rod Gardner, Northern Powergrid’s major incident manager, said: “Intelligence from our helicopter inspections has illustrated the scale of impact on our network.

“The impact from Storm Arwen has been one of the worst we’ve experienced in the last 20 years.

We've restored power to 211,000 of the 240,000 customers who have been affected by #StormArwen. We continue to do all we can to get those customers still affected back on supply. We will not stop until all our customers are restored, and our network is returned to full strength. pic.twitter.com/4tcrEDEgd3

“Despite this, we have restored more than 200,000 customers’ supplies and our dedicated teams will not stop until all customers are restored, and our network is returned to full strength.”

SP Energy Networks, a supplier for parts of Scotland, England and Wales, said by 10.30pm on Sunday, it had reconnected 147,000 customers.

National Rail said on Monday that train routes across Scotland, Wales, northeast England and southwest England had been affected by the weather.

Routes included those run by the London North Eastern Railway, Lumo, ScotRail, and TransPennine Express.

Around 60 people have spent three nights stranded at the Tan Hill Inn in the Yorkshire Dales due to the heavy snow and fallen power lines blocking the roads.

Meanwhile, parts of the UK had the coldest night of the autumn so far with temperatures plummeting to below zero.

The Met Office said Shap in Cumbria recorded minus 8.7C (16.34F) overnight on Sunday.

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