UK weather: thousands without power in Scotland
after Storm Gerrit
High winds, heavy rain and snow disrupt electricity,
rail and road networks
Robyn
Vinter, Nadeem Badshah and agencies
Thu 28 Dec
2023 06.07 GMT
About
16,000 homes were entering Thursday without power, Scottish authorities said,
after Storm Gerrit wreaked havoc. Scotland’s rail network has also experienced
widespread cancellations and delays.
Parts of
Scotland have had significant heavy snow with Scottish and Southern Electricity
Networks (SSEN) saying workers had been dealing with wind speeds of 80mph in
some coastal areas as they worked to reconnect customers.
High winds,
along with heavy rain and snow, damaged electricity networks across Scotland as
fallen trees, branches and other debris brought down power lines. SSEN said
power had been restored to 25,000 properties. “Some customers in rural areas
may be off supply for up to 48 hours.”
A yellow
warning for wind and snow remained in place until 6am on Thursday in the
Shetlands.
ScotRail
suspended multiple train services until further notice, while other lines saw
their timetables shelved until “a full inspection can be carried out” on the
railway network.
In one
incident a train driver’s cabin was hit by a falling tree. Aslef Scotland
confirmed the driver was uninjured and Labour MSP Paul Sweeney said passengers
were also unharmed.
Train
operator LNER, which runs services between London and Scotland on the East
Coast Main Line, on Wednesday advised customers not to travel due to the
weather. Customers stranded by the disruption were told to book hotels and
claim back the cost.
Avanti West
Coast, which operates services on the West Coast Main Line, said its route to
Scotland was impassable on Wednesday with all services to and from London
terminating at Preston. Those with pre-booked tickets for travel between
Preston and either Edinburgh or Glasgow could board trains on Thursday or
Friday, the operator said.
Network
Rail Scotland warned passengers that disruption would continue into Thursday
while lines were inspected for damage.
The fastest
recorded wind gusts by Thursday morning were 86mph at Inverbervie on the
north-east coast of Scotland, 84mph at Fair Isle and 83mph at Capel Curig,
north Wales.
Sepa, the
Scottish environment agency, issued seven flood warnings, including across
Dumfries and Galloway, Orkney and the Scottish Borders.
Scotland
police confirmed the A9 had fully reopened in both directions and was “passable
with care” after snow blocked the road between Drumochter and Dalwhinnie.
Inspector Michelle Burns, from Police Scotland’s Road Policing Unit, said:
“Conditions for travel in the affected areas may be hazardous and extra caution
should be exercised by all road users.”
The A90
northbound also reopened after earlier closures, but southbound lanes at
Lochlands, Forfar remained off-limits on Thursday morning with local diversions
in place.
Storm
Gerrit also brought plenty of rain, with the Great Langdale Valley in the Lake
District recording 80mm – nearly half the usual 178mm monthly rainfall for
December, the Met Office said.
The West
Midlands and east Midlands were expected to face rising flood waters, with the
Environment Agency issuing warnings for rivers in Halesowen, Marchington,
Warwick and Woodborough. In East Yorkshire, there was a warning in place in the
upper Hull catchment.
There were
139 flood alerts in place in England, particularly across the west, running
from Carlisle down to Bournemouth. There were a further 26 in Wales and 15 in
Scotland.
Travellers
were warned of delays and potentially hazardous conditions on the way home from
their Christmas holidays as the UK braced for the storm. Yellow wind and rain
warnings were in place across much of the UK.
By midday
on Wednesday, at least 18 British Airways flights had been cancelled owing to
the storm.
Air traffic
control restrictions meant the BA flights due to operate to or from Heathrow
airport were axed. They were return domestic trips to Aberdeen, Edinburgh,
Glasgow, Jersey and Manchester, and flights to Barcelona, Berlin, Madrid and
Paris Charles de Gaulle.
A BA
spokesperson said: “We have apologised to our customers for any disruption to
their travel plans and our teams are working hard to get them on their way as
quickly as possible.”
The Met
Office said Mickleden in Cumbria had the most rainfall on Wednesday, with 80mm,
followed by Thirlmere in Cumbria with 68mm and Millport in Buteshire with 58mm.
A man was
rescued from a car that became stuck in flood water in Brighouse, West
Yorkshire, on Wednesday morning, while major roads in Aberdeen, Ceredigion,
Ross-shire and Wolverhampton were blocked by fallen trees. In Dumbarton, a tree
fell on to a train line and caught fire.
Dr Shaun
Dellenty was among the motorists caught up in the congestion on the A9.
Dellenty wrote on X: “Huge lines of stationary traffic and severe gales and
drifting snow. Not moved for two and a half hours. Seen one snowplough so far.”
The A9 and
the A96 at Huntly were closed in both directions between Dunkeld and Ballinluig
due to flooding while the A82 Invergarry to Fort Augustus was closed in both
directions due to fallen trees, according to Traffic Scotland’s website.
In London,
some parks including Golders Hill Park and Hill Garden and Pergola, West Ham
Park and Queen’s Park were shut due to high winds.
The Met
Office meteorologist Simon Partridge said the storm was named as a warning to
people coming home after the Christmas holidays.
He said on
Tuesday: “Due to the extent of the warnings that are being issued, it was
deemed that a named storm would be a good idea because it will highlight to the
public the risk associated, particularly as tomorrow is likely to be quite a
busy day on the roads with people travelling back home from Christmas.”
A storm is
named when it is deemed to have the potential to have a medium or high impact
on the UK or Ireland. The Met Office and Met Éireann launched the scheme in
2015 to name storms as part of an effort to raise awareness of extreme weather
events.
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