I am grateful for the opportunity to update Parliament on the exceptional weather that Scotland experienced last week during Storm Éowyn. I begin by expressing condolences to the families and friends of those who have died or been injured as a result of incidents during the storm. I also extend my sympathy to those who have experienced disruption or damage to their businesses and homes as a consequence of the storm.
On Tuesday 21 January, the Met Office announced the likely arrival of Storm Éowyn and predicted disruption for the following Friday and Saturday. By Thursday 23 January, its forecast confidence had increased, and it took the serious step of issuing a red warning for wind that covered the central belt and southern Scotland. Red weather warnings are very rarely issued and signify not only the high likelihood of severe damage and disruption but a significant threat to life. Amber warnings for wind covered the remainder of the country, which underlined the scale of the high winds.
The Scottish Government and front-line agencies across Scotland took the threat extremely seriously. Emergency planning and resilience structures were activated across Scotland, including the Scottish Government resilience room and the Transport Scotland resilience room. Scotland’s responders, including emergency services, local authorities and utility companies, quickly mobilised staff to respond to the impacts of the storm.
Ministerial meetings of the Scottish Government resilience room were held daily from Thursday to Monday, and the Cabinet discussed the storm this morning. Ministers continue to receive regular updates on the incident recovery work, including the restoration of power and the recovery of transport services. In addition, on Saturday 25 January, the First Minister joined a ministerial COBRA meeting to discuss the impacts of Storm Éowyn across the United Kingdom.
Public advice was issued to support the public in planning for the storm and taking steps to stay safe. Police Scotland issued clear advice to the public not to travel during the storm. We worked quickly with the Met Office, the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to activate the new emergency alerts capability for the first time in Scotland since its launch, and we also activated the Scottish Government’s Ready Scotland campaign. I am grateful to both the Met Office and Police Scotland for issuing those early and clear warnings, and to the public, who, in following that advice, helped to mitigate significantly the damage that the storm might otherwise have caused. To put it simply, people have, by following the guidance to stay at home, prevented further loss of life.
However, no amount of warning could prevent significant damage and disruption from a storm of this scale. Storm Éowyn and other recent weather events at home and abroad are symptoms of the warming world to which we are now adapting. I echo the First Minister’s comments over the weekend that the
“ferocity”
of
“climate change is with us”.
We also know that such trends are locked in. To prepare Scotland for the changing climate, we must therefore bring climate resilience to the heart of decision making across the nation.
The Met Office has called Storm Éowyn “probably the strongest storm” to hit the UK for a decade, with gusts of wind exceeding 100mph. The entirety of Scotland was covered by weather warnings on Friday, and we saw widespread impacts across the country. A total of 92 per cent of the school estate in Scotland was closed and all rail, bus and ferry services were cancelled. There were significant impacts across the road network, including fallen trees and power cables, overturned heavy goods vehicles and road traffic collisions.
However, Transport Scotland reports that, during the red alert period, traffic volumes dropped by 80 per cent. The public listened to and followed the important advice that Police Scotland issued.
At the worst point, more than 130,000 people were reported to be without power. The weather itself meant that it was not always safe to carry out repairs, and front-line agencies established a number of welfare centres to support the most vulnerable. As of the latest update, at noon today, 2,538 customers remain off power.
Throughout that response, our health and social care partnerships worked hard, hand in hand with the utility companies, to support the most vulnerable individuals, by targeting resources to reinstate power to care homes and vulnerable individuals as soon as possible. I thank them for their on-going efforts, and I recognise the people in our communities who came together to support vulnerable friends, family and neighbours.
The trunk road and motorway network has fully recovered following Storm Éowyn; however, there is a risk of secondary impacts around weakened trees that may come down and debris that may still get into drainage systems, which could lead to further localised disruption until the clear-up is complete.
Health and social care services were impacted, with non-essential care packages suspended during the red warning and some non-urgent patient appointments cancelled on Friday, which are being rescheduled. Thanks to the excellent work and dedication of the staff who provide health, social care and social work services in our hospitals and communities, as well as the efforts of unpaid carers and the third and independent sectors, there was no significant impact on patient care, and services are returning to normal. Forth Valley royal hospital was subject to a storm-related power outage on Friday afternoon and was without mains power for approximately one hour. Thanks to the efforts of the health board and the power company, the situation was quickly resolved and no patient harm was identified.
However, we are still in the process of recovery, and the impacts of the storm continue to be felt, and may continue to be felt in the coming days and weeks. More than 2,500 customers in Scotland remain without power, and although power companies are working hard towards restoration, the extreme damage that was caused by Storm Éowyn means that the task is very complex. Although power companies were able to make quick wins in the early period of recovery and restore power to thousands of customers at a time, they are now dealing with some of the most challenging and remote issues.
Recovery operations have continued on the rail network, as Scotland’s railway recovers from more than 500 incidents associated with the storm. ScotRail and Network Rail are working to reopen lines as quickly and safely as possible, with services having been reinstated overnight on the lines to Ayr, Balloch and Paisley Canal. By tomorrow, it is anticipated that the lines to Largs, Wemyss Bay and Gourock will be reopened, that the landslip at Hamilton will be cleared and that services to Larkhall will resume. Earlier today, 73 per cent of services were operating, and that figure will increase as routes reopen.
Many schools suffered damage to infrastructure, to varying degrees, as well as a loss of power. However, 99 per cent of schools across Scotland were able to reopen as usual yesterday. Remedial works are on-going, and 16 schools and six local authority early learning and childcare settings remained closed this morning. I do not underestimate the impact that the disruption has had on families and staff.
This has been, and continues to be, an extremely complex and protracted incident. Every business, home and individual was affected by an amber or red weather warning. I express my heartfelt gratitude to the organisations and individuals who are working tirelessly to restore normality to people’s homes and lives. I pay tribute to the work that our responder and voluntary organisations undertake to protect the public from such emergencies. We must continue to work together to ensure that Scotland remains prepared to withstand future storms that come our way.