Don’t ignore storm alerts, warns minister

PEOPLE need to pay heed to all weather warnings and not just the more extreme ones, a minister has urged.

The Government yesterday launched its annual ‘Be Winter Ready’ campaign, confirming it had an ‘ample supply’ of 258,000 tonnes of salt ready to grit the roads over the coming months.

Junior Minister Damien English said he thinks ‘people are probably waiting for the Red warning’, adding: ‘We did see during the recent Orange warnings that not everybody took heed.’

He was referring to Storm Ali in September, which carried an Orange warning and caused severe damage across the country. Met Éireann was criticised at the time for failing to issue a Red warning.

Mr English said: ‘People are nearly waiting for the Red, but actually Orange is quite serious. It means “be prepared”.’

Met Éireann’s Evelyn Cusack said there may perhaps be a ‘Yellow warning fatigue’, but that the forecaster only issues these alerts or warnings when ‘they are warranted’ or there are ‘specific conditions around’. Ms Cusack added: ‘There is a chance of more snow even though the climate is warming up. There is more evaporation because of the higher sea temperatures. Then in winter, instead of rain, that turns to snow.’

The winter fuel allowance was increased from 27 to 28 weeks in the recent budget, and Rural Affairs Minister Michael Ring said there has been an increase in the number of elderly people applying for free personal monitored alarms through the senior alerts scheme.

Mr English also said an extra 200 beds in Dublin will be made available for rough sleepers over the winter period.