Weather Archives - Page 2 of 2

MV Finlaggan aids cut off Harris residents

January 13, 2015

Caledonian MacBrayne’s MV Finlaggan came to the assistance of the community on the Isle of Harris at the weekend.

On Sunday, the island had been without power for approaching 48 hours.

Opening up her gangway to members of the community from 4-8pm, the Master, Barry Scott, and his crew of MV Finlaggan welcomed approximately 50 local residents on board and provided hot drinks and filled rolls, as well as offering them the chance to take a shower.

Some who were aboard took hot water and food back to those who could not venture out, and also took the opportunity to re-charge mobile devices in case the telephone network was restored.

Meanwhile, the ship’s Chief Engineer and 2nd Engineer were able to apply their technical expertise at a local hotel, wiring an emergency generator to supply power.

“The Master and crew of MV Finlaggan were pleased to be able to support the relief efforts,” said duty operations manager Finlay MacRae.

“A hot drink, some food and a shower hopefully provided some respite, and thanks, too, to our engineering colleagues from Finlaggan, whose assistance in connecting a generator helped the pierside hotel to assist with relief efforts for the wider community.”

Qinetiq: St Kilda recovery plan already in motion

January 12, 2015

Qinetiq staff were evacuated on Friday.

Qinetiq has commented on the evacuation of 15 members of its staff from St Kilda on Friday last week.

Personnel were airlifted by coastguard following extreme weather and damage to infrastructure on the island.

A QinetiQ spokesman commented:

“On Friday, 9th January, QinetiQ evacuated all its employees from the site at St Kilda, which the company manages on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, due to the extreme weather conditions.

“The safety of our people is our top priority, so as a precaution our 15 employees were airlifted from the island at around 3pm by the coastguard.

“There were no casualties, although the winds did cause damage to buildings and equipment. We will carry out a full assessment into the extent of the damage when conditions improve.

“Employees are now back at work in the Uists and a recovery plan is already in motion.”

Storm forces second St Kilda evacuation

January 12, 2015

MoD buildings in Village Bay, St Kilda.

For the second time in its history, St Kilda was evacuated last Friday after severe gale force winds apparently caused major damage to buildings and defence infrastructure on the archipelago.

Overnight on Thursday, gusts of well over 100mph were reportedly recorded on St Kilda, allegedly damaging buildings and defence equipment.

On Friday morning, Stornoway Coastguard airlifted 15 members of staff based at the MoD facility to Benbecula.

Am Paipear is awaiting details from the MoD and Qinetiq on the extent of the damage.

Prior to its famous evacuation, St Kilda is believed to have been inhabited for some two thousand years.

However, exhausted by a life of extraordinary isolation and difficulty, the last residents of St Kilda left the island at their own request in 1930.

A military base was established there in 1957. To this day, the only regular residents of St Kilda are MoD and Qinetiq staff, while conservation workers, volunteers and scientists are regularly based there during the summer.

The entire archipelago is owned by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS). It became one of Scotland’s five World Heritage Sites in 1986 and is one of the few in the world to hold joint status for its natural and cultural qualities.

A spokesman for NTS confirmed this morning: “No NTS staff or volunteers were present on St Kilda at the time and we are unaware of any damage to the historic buildings we care for at this stage.

“We have no confirmation of the wind speed recorded on St Kilda during the storms. We normally receive this kind of information from MoD staff.”

More to follow…

Severe weather – Advice on disruption to services

January 8, 2015

Wild weather is set to hit the islands over the next three days.

The multi-agency Emergency Planning Group for the Western Isles, WIEPCG, met today at 12pm to discuss the severe weather forecast for the islands on Thursday 8th January and Friday 9th January. High winds are expected with gusts of up to 100mph. An amber warning has been issued.

The following notification of severe weather was received from the Met Office which is valid from 2200 on Thursday 8th January until 1000 on Friday 9th January: “A vigorous depression is expected to run rapidly east passing northern Scotland on Thursday night and Friday morning. Winds will begin to increase late on Thursday to give a period of very strong westerly winds across the Western Isles, the north and northwest of the Scottish mainland and Orkney. Gusts of 80 to 90 mph are likely quite widely with a risk of gusts of over 100 mph in places, with these strongest gusts most likely along coasts in the far north. Winds should quickly ease from the west during the morning.”

The forecasted peak is between midnight and 4am on Friday morning with winds easing towards the end of the warning period.

SEPA have issued the following statement: ‘Typical flooding impacts are likely to include spray and wave overtopping at periods of high tide. Flooding affecting properties and communities could occur, especially in the far northwest nut the likelihood of this is currently thought to be low. The greatest risk is currently associated with Friday.”

All schools and nurseries in the Western Isles will be closed tomorrow, Friday 9th January.

Buses will be running a limited service as follows:
Thursday 8th January – The last public buses departing Stornoway expected to operate will be the 7:30pm Ness/Westside, 7:35pm North Lochs, 7:40pm Point and 7:40pm Tolsta.
Thursday 8th January – The 8:45pm Balivanich to Lochboisdale and 9pm Balivanich to Lochmaddy will be cancelled.
All daytime public bus services across the whole region from early morning to around 12 noon on Friday 9th January 2015 will be cancelled.
All school transport bus services across the whole region on Friday 9th January will be cancelled
Public bus services operating after 12 noon on Friday 9th January may be subject to delay or possible cancellation at short notice. Passengers are advised to contact bus operators directly using the contact phone numbers with the current public bus timetables. Timetables are available on the Comhairle website.

In addition, sports and leisure facilities in the Western Isles will close tonight at 8pm and are expected to be closed tomorrow with the exception of Lewis Sports Centre which is expected to open at midday. Libraries are also expected to be open by 12pm.

Homecare service will be affected as follows:
Evening care visits adjusted on Thursday evening to allow staff to get home by 10pm. All service users or representatives have been contacted and contingency plans agreed for overnight support and visits on Friday morning.

SSE are on yellow alert and has put in place its contingency plans, ensuring optimum staffing levels to deal with any damage the storm may cause to the electricity network. Any customers who lose their electricity supply are urged to contact SSE on 0800 300 999 to report damage or highlight neighbours or friends who may need extra help.

CnES Roads and Police will be monitoring all causeways.
The public are advised to secure any lose debris. The construction industry is advised to secure scaffolding and any lose items on building sites.
The Comhairle would ask family, neighbours and friends living nearby to assist and support elderly and vulnerable people.

All services are subject to further disruption.

Updates will be provided via the Public Information section of the Comhairle’s website at:
CNES Public Notices
Twitter: @cne_siar
WIEPCG are on Facebook where information will also be updated as appropriate.

Hydro on yellow alert ahead of severe weather

January 8, 2015

Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution (SHEPD) is now operating at Yellow Alert status in response to the severe weather that is forecast to hit Scotland late tonight.

Independent forecasters are predicting gusts of up to 100 mph and lightning strikes across Western Isles, North West Highlands and Orkney.

Gusts of around 85mph are expected throughout Argyll and Moray Firth.

In response, SHEPD has put in place its contingency plans, ensuring optimum staffing levels to deal with any damage the storm may cause to the electricity network.

The electricity distributor has mobilised hundreds of additional staff on the ground and in customer call centres. It is also transferring some resources from its sister company, Southern Electric Power Distribution, in anticipation of the severe weather.

Rodney Grubb, Head of Operations, explained the significance of the Yellow Alert: “Going to Yellow Alert is an indication of how seriously we are taking this storm that is likely to hit Scotland. It means increasing our resources and mobilising them to places where the storm is likely to cause the most havoc and damage the electricity network.”

Rodney also urged customers to be prepared in case the power does goes off for as short while: “Simple things like having torches and spare batteries at the ready, a plug-in chargeable radio to keep up to date with the news and a plug-in phone to contact friends or relatives can make a huge difference. As always, if you know of someone who may need extra help during a power cut, please call our Priority Service team and we’ll add their details to our files.”

SHEPD, which serves 750,000 customers, is working with councils, emergency services and a number of other agencies to ensure that vulnerable customers are looked after. Outbound calls continue to be made to our most vulnerable customers, offering them a priority service.

Any customers who lose their electricity supply are urged to contact our dedicated team on 0800 300 999 to report damage or highlight neighbours or friends who may need extra help.

See a video on this story on the SSE website here: http://sse.com/newsandviews/

Remember 0800 300 999 is the number to call in the event of a power cut or to highlight individuals needing help.

Two storms set to strike over the coming days

January 8, 2015

Two storms are set to hit the Outer Hebrides over the next few days.

Two rapidly deepening Atlantic storms due to pass just to the north of the UK are set to create some very unsettled weather over the next few days.

Northern Scotland is likely to see the strongest winds as the storms pass by on Friday and Saturday, with gusts of up to 100 mph or more possible in the most exposed regions.

The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings for northern parts of the UK, including the Outer Hebrides. Although it will be very windy for most areas in the country, winds will be less strong in southern areas.

The jet stream, a narrow band of fast-moving winds high up in the atmosphere, is playing a role in the development of the storms.

Frank Saunders, Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “The jet stream is going to be particularly strong later this week and this effectively fuels the low pressure systems moving across the Atlantic, causing them to deepen rapidly as they pass to the north of the UK.

“This will bring some very strong winds across the UK, but they will most likely be strongest in northern Scotland – which is expected to see the greatest impacts from the weather. This is likely to cause disruption in places and people should stay up to date with our forecasts and warnings to get the latest information as we move closer to the end of the week.”

Winds are forecast to increase significantly late on Thursday and into Friday as the first of two low pressures passes to the north of Scotland. This system is likely to bring gusts of 60-70 mph across northern parts of the UK and perhaps up to 100 mph or more in the most exposed parts of the far north of Scotland.

The low will move quickly eastwards on Friday afternoon, but there will be little respite before another rapidly deepening low brings further strong winds later on Friday and through the day on Saturday. Again this may bring gusts of 80-90 mph in the far north of Scotland.

The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings for both days, and these will be regularly updated with the latest information.

Mr Saunders added: “The outlook for the next few days is very different to conditions last year when the jet stream was taking these storms right across the UK. Because the jet stream is further north, the storms will follow its path and this will mean the far north will see the strongest winds – while winds will be less strong in the south.”

Check the MET Office website for further updates: www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/archive/2015/double-storm

‘No complacency’ message after two mild winters

October 21, 2014

It’s time to get ready for winter…

Two consecutive relatively mild winters appear to have made people in Scotland less worried about severe weather incidents, according to new research published today.

Research commissioned by the Scottish Government and the British Red Cross has found that 40 per cent of Scots surveyed said that they were concerned about emergencies caused by treacherous weather conditions, down from almost half of those questioned a year ago.

The survey also found:

• almost nine out of ten car owners believe they are prepared for an emergency, largely because three-quarters carry an ice-scraper and de-icer.
• seven per cent had experienced an extreme weather emergency in the past year, with higher levels in rural areas. Of these, two-fifths claimed they got together with neighbours to help them cope.

Launching this year’s ‘Ready for Winter?’ campaign, Scottish Government Transport Minister Keith Brown said: “If there is anything recent winters have shown us it is that Scottish weather is unpredictable.

“In the last five years, most parts of Scotland have been affected by severe weather ranging from snow and freezing temperatures to high winds and flooding, and we also saw the terrible impact of flooding in south-west England last winter. While extreme weather can happen at any time of year, winter remains the time of greatest risk.

“The unpredictability of weather patterns means we cannot simply hope that we will miss the worst of it. While we can’t stop the weather causing disruption, we can be well prepared to cope with it.

“Our annual winter preparedness campaign reminds us of this and the simple actions we can all take to get ready: in the home, before a journey, at our place of work and in our communities. This will serve us well not just throughout the winter months, but all year round and in a range of emergency situations.

“I’m delighted the campaign is again being run in partnership with the British Red Cross and will be supported by a variety of other partners across the public, private and voluntary sectors in Scotland.”

David Miller, Director of the British Red Cross in Scotland, said:

“Making sure you are prepared now for winter can make a huge difference when extreme weather hits.

“At the Red Cross we know that severe weather, including snow and floods, can have serious consequences. However, with a few simple steps you can make yourself and others ready for the disruption it can bring.

“You can prepare an emergency kit for your home and car, jot down your emergency phone numbers and check on any neighbours, family or friends to see if they need any help. You can also make sure you know what the plan at your workplace is.

“Each year the Red Cross helps people across Scotland cope with the effects of severe weather and this winter, as always, we’ll be prepared and ready.”

COSLA President Councillor, David O’Neill said: “COSLA is delighted to once again be working in partnership with the Scottish Government and British Red Cross to launch the ‘Ready for Winter?’ campaign. COSLA would urge people to be aware of the simple measures they can take to make sure they are prepared should severe weather affect Scotland.

“COSLA is involved in reaching out to local councils throughout Scotland to ensure they have appropriate contingency plans in place to minimise the impact on public services should Scotland experience any form of severe weather this winter.”

MV Finlaggan aids cut off Harris residents

Qinetiq: St Kilda recovery plan already in motion

Storm forces second St Kilda evacuation

Severe weather – Advice on disruption to services

Hydro on yellow alert ahead of severe weather

Two storms set to strike over the coming days

‘No complacency’ message after two mild winters

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