CALAMITO US CIARA
Travel chaos for planes, trains and automobiles as rivers burst banks ... and forecasters warn of blizzards lasting three days
STORM Ciara carved a path of destruction across Scotland yesterday causing travel chaos, widespread damage and injuries.
Towns were flooded, railways paralysed and lorries blown over as 90mph winds tore down trees and parts of buildings.
Rivers burst their banks as some parts of Scotland saw three inches of rain fall in the space of 24 hours.
And forecasters warned the country now faces three days of heavy snow.
On Saturday night, 80 people had to be evacuated from a pub in Perth after a chimney breast from a neighbouring property crashed through the bar’s roof.
A spokesman for The Venue said the front of the building was ‘dislodged’ by the impact. Three people required treatment from paramedics but it is not thought they were seriously injured.
Around the same time, the B9000 was closed at the A90 slip for Newburgh in Aberdeenshire after a coach overturned and landed in a ditch. There were no injuries but the road was closed overnight.
Yesterday, the Met Office reported a reading of 82mm (three inches) of rain which fell in Eskdalemuir in Dumfries and Galloway in the 24 hours to noon on Sunday.
The side of a bistro and guest house in Hawick, Roxburghshire, was brought crashing down after the River Teviot appeared to have undermined the walls and foundations.
The Whitesands area of Dumfries was closed after the River Nith burst its banks. Several cars had to be rescued from the flood water despite motorists having been warned to remove vehicles from the area.
At Annan, the Everholm sports complex was under five feet of water in places and completely cut off from the rest of the town.
By last night, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) had put 15 flood alerts and 62 – more serious – flood warnings in place.
An Emirates Boeing 777 aircraft from Dubai was forced to divert to
Manchester on Saturday night after a sudden change in the direction of the wind as it made its final approach to a storm-hit Glasgow Airport.
Glasgow and Edinburgh airports also reported a number of flight cancellations due to weather difficulties at other UK and European airports. However, the storm gave a welcome boost to one flight yesterday as a British Airways plane made the fastest ever flight by a conventional airliner from New York to London.
The Boeing 747-436 made the 3,500-mile transatlantic journey in only four hours and 56 minutes, helped by strong tailwinds.
Almost all of Cal Mac’s west coast sailings were cancelled for the day. Elsewhere, all services were cancelled on the West Highland Line out of Glasgow to Oban and Fort William and Mallaig.
ScotRail said it had been told to expect wind speeds of 80mph on the scenic route, which will remain shut today.
Even a replacement bus service on the north-east coast had to be axed. ScotRail said ‘extremely challenging driving conditions’ meant the replacement transport between Aberdeen and Dundee was ‘suspended for safety’.
Cross-Border rail operators LNER and Avanti West Coast warned passengers not to travel at all. Train services were suspended
yesterday between Kilwinning and Largs and Ardrossan due to high waves interrupting the power supply on overhead cables.
Also in Ayrshire, the main A78 coastal route between Skelmorlie and Largs had its safety gates shut after Scotland Transerv posted pictures on social media, showing huge waves overtopping the road. The A9000 Forth Road Bridge was closed to all traffic as a wind speed of 56mph was recorded on the structure.
Double decker buses were banned from the adjoining Queensferry Crossing, as well as the Tay Bridge in Dundee.
In Inverness, all lanes were restricted for a time on the A9
Kessock Bridge. The Erskine Bridge connecting Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire was closed to all high sided vehicles.
Drivers were warned they face treacherous conditions with reports of fallen trees and other debris blocking roads.
Helen Roberts of the Met Office said: ‘We now have a snow and wind warning for Scotland alone for all of Monday, Tuesday and now into Wednesday. The heaviest snow is going to be above a few hundred metres, where we could see as much as 20cm (eight inches).’
On higher ground, it is feared blizzards will create conditions making it impossible to drive, potentially stranding people in their cars.
Lightning strikes could also cause power cuts and disruption is expected to rail and air travel.