Scotland pounded by hurricane-force winds
FRANK URQUHART, JOHN ROSS AND MICHAEL BLACKLEY
Key points
• Met Office issued severe weather warnings for whole of Scotland
• Emergency services on standby across the country
• Weather office predicting winds will ease today
Key quote
"Some of the skippers are saying that it’s the worst sustained two weeks of
weather they have seen in 20 years, with 80mph to 90mph winds and huge seas." -
Hugh Dan MacLennan, spokesman for Caledonian MacBrayne
Story in full TWO people were dead and 60,000 homes without power last night as
hurricane-force winds caused chaos throughout large parts of Scotland, bringing
destruction across the country.
Wind speeds of 124mph were recorded in the Western Isles as the most damaging
storms for more than a decade swept in from the Atlantic .
On the roads, the storms claimed two lives in separate accidents. On the A1 in
the Borders a motorist was killed when his vehicle collided with a lorry and
was sent over a verge. The lorry driver was receiving treatment in hospital
although the extent of his injuries remain unclear.
In Tayside, a van driver died when his vehicle and a lorry were in collision on
the A90 northbound.
The motorist was pronounced dead at the scene of the incident which happened at
just after 7pm near Forfar.
The ferocious winds had already claimed one life before they reached the
Scottish coast. A driver was killed at Londonderry in Northern Ireland, after
his lorry was blown off a bridge and on to the banks of the River Foyle.
Meanwhile, engineers were working frantically to reconnect tens of thousand of
homes left in darkness, but power companies said the storms were hampering
their work.
After the wind and the rain, forecasters were also predicting that Highland
areas would experience blizzards today, with 10cm to 15cm of snow adding to the
chaos.
Rail commuters were also facing major disruption, with First ScotRail
announcing that all services would face cancellations and delays today caused
by the weather. The Forth Bridge was closed to trains last night.
The Met Office issued severe weather warnings for the whole of Scotland and
advised drivers to travel only if it was essential. The Skye, Tay, Kessock and
Erskine bridges were closed to all traffic.
With roads too dangerous for staff and pupils to travel, all schools in the
Western Isles were remaining closed today. Even hospitals were affected, with
Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway cancelling all non-urgent procedures.
On Skye, around 200 people were marooned in their homes in the Sleat area, cut
off due to blocked roads and with no power or telephone lines.
And throughout the country, emergency services remained on standby as the
storms brought chaos to the west coast ferry network, with some sea conditions
in the area reported to be the worst for 20 years.
A host of services, including those to Lewis, Harris, Barra, Rothesay, Cumbrae,
Skye and North Uist were cancelled.
Hugh Dan MacLennan, a spokesman for Caledonian MacBrayne, said: "Some of the
skippers are saying that it’s the worst sustained two weeks of weather they
have seen in 20 years, with 80mph to 90mph winds and huge seas."
Northern Constabulary was braced for serious flooding in Stornoway on the Isle
of Lewis, on Skye and on Lochalsh in the Highlands. The police force said a
number of houses were flooded by coastal waters at Lochyside and Caol, near
Fort William.
Mallaig Police Station in the Highlands was flooded following a high tidal
surge at about 6:45pm yesterday evening.
In Corstorphine, Edinburgh, buses were diverted during the evening rush hour
after severe winds led to debris falling from the roofs of buildings. A main
road was closed as a precautionary measure, leading to major tailbacks. Nobody
was injured and no vehicles were damaged.
An overturned lorry caused Main Street in Kirkconnel, Dumfriesshire, to be
blocked in both directions early in the evening.
With the winds wreaking havoc with power supplies, the Scottish Executive said
it had been advised that the number of homes affected could rise.
A spokeswoman for Scottish Hydro Electric told The Scotsman: "We have extra
engineers ready, we have helicopters on standby, we have additional call
handlers available in our emergency centre and additional control engineers in
the control room to manage operations. We are preparing for the worst but
hoping for the best.
"We will just have to batten down the hatches and wait and see what happens."
There were fears that further heavy rain, falling on already sodden ground,
could lead to swollen rivers rising higher in Perthshire and the Highlands.
A spokesman for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency said: "Over the next
48 hours, we expect the worst conditions seen for more than ten years."
The Met Office forecast that the Highlands and Islands would bear the brunt of
the storms blasting in from the Atlantic.
The winds, however, were expected to ease considerably today, with squally
showers in the aftermath of the storm.
A spokesman said: "It will be a day of slow improvement and by tea-time the
picture will have quietened down quite considerably, with a promise of much
calmer days on Thursday and Friday."
No severe flood risk warnings were in force in Scotland yesterday, but
emergency service staff at Stirling Council distributed hundreds of sandbags to
properties at risk from flooding in Stirling and Callander.
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