Elected Member Briefing - Adverse Weather Update, 20 October 2023

About this Briefing Note

Report by: David Littlejohn - Head of Planning and Development  

EMBN Number: 117 - 23  

Date: 20 October 2023 

Subject: Adverse Weather Conditions - Update  

Responsible Officer: David Littlejohn - Head of Planning and Development 

Details

Purpose

The purpose of this briefing is to provide elected members with a further update regarding the actions that the Council and Tayside Contracts are taking in relation to preparing for and responding to the ongoing impact of Storm Babet on Perth and Kinross this week.    

Briefing Information

Following on from yesterday's briefing, the Met Office's extended red weather warning for rain which applies to parts of Perth and Kinross ended at 1200hrs today. Conditions are expected to ease this afternoon and into the evening. At this time, there is a yellow warning for wind for Perth and Kinross until 1200hrs tomorrow, and an amber warning for rain for some areas north of Perth from 00:00 until 23.59hrs tomorrow. More details of the warnings are available at UK weather warnings - Met Office. 

All flood gates, including the barriers at the Queen's Bridge, remain closed. A decision will be taken tomorrow morning, following high tide, on whether it is safe to remove the Queen's Bridge barriers and open the Harbour area flood gates.  

The Roads Maintenance Partnership has also been arranging to distribute pallets of sandbags to key locations across Perth and Kinross. We are looking to replenish our supply of sandbags today pending any improvement in conditions. 

Overnight and into this morning roads across the network have been closed due to surface water and fallen trees as a result of strong winds. Whilst there have been a number of reports of tree damage, these are being dealt with following the normal procedures and are not significant in comparison to previous storm damage due to wind. Contractors will be available over the weekend for high priority work to clear roads but the rest of the clear up will be done on a prioritised basis next week.   

There has also been impact on the trunk roads networks locally - updates and further information are available from the Traffic Scotland website. 

Some local public transport services have continued to run. Stagecoach East Scotland which had suspended services overnight has today taken the decision to resume services within Perth itself from 12noon and other services are either running a reduced route or remain suspended. Bus users should refer to the relevant operators' websites and digital channels for up-to-date local bus and express service information. 

All school lets planned for today have been cancelled. 

All Council Early Childhood Centres (Letham, City of Perth and Goodlyburn, Inch View, Rattray and Riverside) and all Kids Clubs and Wraparound Care (Oakbank Kids Club, Milnathort Kids Club, Blair Kids Club, St Dominic's WAC, Luncarty WAC and Inch View WAC) are closed today. 
 
Perth Crematorium is closed for services today. 
 
All environmental services across Perth and Kinross today have been suspended, including bin collections and the closure of all waste recycling centres. Discussions will take place later this afternoon at the Council's Incident Management Team meeting to consider when it might be safe to recommence services in light of the most up to date Met Office forecast. A further update to Elected Members and associated public communications will be provided on this later today. 

There have been unplanned power outages in some communities across Perth and Kinross. SSEN have engineers assessing the situation. Further updates can be found here: Power Track (ssen.co.uk). 

A rest centre was opened in Alyth last night to assist residents affected by the severe weather. Efforts were made to get an SSEN welfare van to Kettins last night however conditions did not permit this. With parts of Invergowrie experiencing flooding today, a rest centre for residents has been opened by Council staff this morning at the Peter Arbuckle Place Sheltered Housing complex in the village.  
 
The Health and Social Care Partnership has continued to provide support to people across Perth and Kinross.  Lists of vulnerable people have been compiled and those at greatest risk prioritised for Care at Home and District Nursing support.  Families are supporting where appropriate.  Everyone requiring a visit has received one to date.  Care Homes have adequate staffing levels and are providing a service as normal.  Day Centres are closed today, and an outreach service is available for people requiring it. 

Culture Perth and Kinross have confirmed their venues opened to the public at 12noon today, and Perth Art Gallery will close at 5pm. Library buildings in the now lifted red warning area (Blairgowrie, Scone, Alyth and Birnam) are staying closed all day today. CPK hope to resume normal operations in their venues tomorrow but are keeping arrangements under review. 

Live Active Leisure facilities will remain closed today, reopening as normal tomorrow.