SCOTLAND’S resilience arrangements "stand ready" ahead of Storm Dudley, the Scottish Government has said, as the nation prepares for adverse weather which forecasts suggest could bring 90mph winds and blizzard conditions over the coming days.
With Storm Dudley predicted to move across the northern half of the country from Wednesday night into Thursday morning, followed closely by Storm Eunice, the Met Office has issued a yellow wind warning for the whole of Scotland from 3pm Wednesday until 6pm on Thursday, and for the south of Scotland, the Central belt, Strathclyde and parts of Tayside and Fife, an amber warning from 6pm on Wednesday until 9am on Thursday.
In addition to disrupting road, rail, air and ferry services, the strong winds may also lead to fallen trees, damange to buildings and power cuts.
READ MORE: Storm Dudley Scotland: Warning issued to drivers as very high winds expected
Similar hazards were faced by thousands across the UK during Storm Arwen in November, with some left without electricity, hot water or working phone lines for up to nine days. Although the oncoming storms are not expected to be as severe, Arwen saw questions raised about Scotland’s preparedness for future extreme weather events, with Conservative MSP Liam Kerr describing the storm’s aftermath as “a monumental failure of contingency planning.”
The UK Government also faced criticism, leading UK Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng to admit to Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee: “In this day and age, in a country like ours, power outages of more than three days are unacceptable really. We can’t pretend, we can’t sugar-coat that.”
A subsequent Scottish review of Storm Arwen, published in January, concluded that emergency response to those affected by storms could improve, and laid out a number of recommendations including better use of volunteers in affected communities, improved communication with energy companies and the rehearsal of mass door-knocking in areas particularly vulnerable to power outages.
READ MORE: Scotland weather: Met Office warns of 90mph winds in yellow alert
Asked about Scotland’s current levels of preparedness for Storms Dudley and Eunice, a Scottish Government spokesperson told The National: “We are receiving regular updates from the Met Office and SEPA regarding the weather warnings currently in place. Our resilience arrangements stand ready at all times to coordinate a response to severe weather issues where required.
“The learning and improvement process from Storm Arwen and more recent severe weather is underway, following the review published last month – we will continue to track progress against the recommendations of the review and provide an update this June.”
However, concerns about Scotland’s readiness for the storms have been raised by the Scottish LibDems, whose rural affairs spokesperson Beatrice Wishart commented: “We are facing a constant run of storms and communities haven’t been prepared for it.
“Scotland's Victorian sewers were never designed to cope with the extreme weather we get today and the government failed to give the necessary means to adapt the existing infrastructure to modern needs.
Damage from a December storm
“Scottish Liberal Democrats have previously proposed a new Climate Emergency Communities Fund. This would have the objective of upgrading Scotland’s homes, businesses and infrastructure to cope with the impact of the climate emergency which is already taking its toll.
“What used to be defined as rare events are now almost monthly if not weekly occurrences, yet another terrifying symptom of the climate emergency. The Scottish Government should listen to these proposals and not leave communities to feel the full force of extreme weather events.”
For the duration of the Met Office’s weather warnings, the Transport Scotland Resilience Room and the Multi Agency Response Team will be stood up to monitor conditions, while Traffic Scotland will provide updates on social media, their website and through radio broadcasts, via the National Traffic Control Centre.
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