Elected Member Briefing - Adverse Weather Forecast, 17 October 2023

About this Briefing Note

Report by: Mark Butterworth - Head of Environment and Consumer Services

EMBN Number: 114 - 23

Date: 17 October 2023

Subject: Forecast Adverse Weather Conditions

Responsible Officer: David Littlejohn - Head of Planning and Development

Details

Purpose

The purpose of this briefing is to advise elected members of the actions that the Council and Tayside Contracts are taking in relation to preparing for the potential impact of Storm Babet on Perth and Kinross over the next few days.

Briefing Information

Members will be acutely aware of the adverse weather and significant rainfall which impacted parts of Perth and Kinross over the weekend of 7th and 8th October 2023. It has been reported that approximately 91mm of rainfall fell in Perth during that weekend which is more than an average month's rainfall at this time of year.

Whilst the Council is still dealing with the aftermath of the storm, and supporting residents to get back to normal, we have been advised that further potential heavy rainfall will affect parts of Perth and Kinross on Thursday and Friday of this week, and consequently the Met Office have issued an Amber rain warning and a Yellow wind warning, and SEPA an Amber Flood Warning with the associated likely impacts of: -

- Flooding affecting parts of communities
- Danger to life and damage to buildings
- Disruption to infrastructure

In addition to the risk of flooding, the second half of this week could see a prolonged period of strong southeasterly winds, with gusts to 60-70mph and to 80mph in some parts.

Elected Members will be aware of the unpredictably of the weather and the weather forecasts, however given the current saturated ground conditions and the tide levels within the River Tay it is considered appropriate, as a precautionary measure, to close the flood gates in Perth on Wednesday, commencing late morning (Wednesday 18th October 2023).

In addition, we will check and cleanse the trash screens on the Craigie Burn, Perth and others that historically block up due to debris in the watercourse. This is an iterative process and we will repeatedly move from one trash screen to another in an attempt to keep them clear.

The gates on the South Inch have been temporarily opened to give contractors an opportunity to decontaminate the paths but these, and all other gates will also be closed on Wednesday (18th October 2023) other than the gates across the Queens Bridge, which is very low risk, and would have the greatest impact on the travelling public if closed unnecessarily early. Therefore, the situation will be monitored, and these will be closed, if necessary.

It is anticipated that the gates will remain closed during Thursday, Friday and Saturday although this will be kept under review. The closure of the gates will of course, cause some disruption, particularly around lower Friarton and the harbour. As such, operatives will remain on site in the area of the harbour whilst the gates are closed to provide 24-hour assistance to businesses with access and egress to their premises at that location.

The Roads Maintenance Partnership will also distribute pallets of sandbags to key locations across Perth and Kinross.

The arrangements for dealing with potential effects of high winds on trees is that emergency situations affecting roads or public safety will be dealt with by the emergency services. They have established contact arrangements with the Council for such situations. Otherwise, reports of tree damage would be taken by the Council's customer service centre and be coordinated and dealt with by the relevant services and contractors when it is deemed safe to undertake the work i.e. during daylight and in calm weather conditions, and be based on the following priorities:

Priority 1 - Roads closed, or partially closed.
Priority 2 - Care homes and schools, or hanging tree limbs over footpaths
Priority 3 - Fallen trees or tree limbs on footpaths or parks.

The appropriate out of hours arrangements will also be put in place during Thursday and Friday, including requesting additional support from the Aberdeen City Contact Centre, and the Council's own contact centre working extended hours. In addition, over the last few days a number of meetings have taken place between Council officers and SEPA to reiterate the appropriate protocols, lines of communication and precautions that are in place to effectively manage the forthcoming adverse weather, and officers are confident that these are in place.