The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Demand to protect rural communities from major storms
Nicola Sturgeon is facing fresh demands to draw up a plan to protect rural communities from the devastation caused by extreme weather events.
A series of major storms – Arwen, Barra, Malik and Corrie – battered Scotland last winter, with winds reaching up to 90mph.
Thousands were left without power, water and phone signals and it also led to the loss of life.
MSP Tess White is taking the call to Holyrood so communities are “protected” by this winter.
Angus Council is still totting up the cost of the winter storms and Perthshire was also badly hit.
Aberdeenshire Council faces a repair bill of more than £900,000 to fix storm damage.
Ms White, Conservative MSP for the North East, wants the Scottish Government to provide a delivery plan for its Storm Arwen review with clear timescales for implementation before next winter.
In Holyrood today, she will highlight the need to improve communication on the ground, as well as information identifying vulnerable people who need help and support in an emergency.
“These major storms had a shattering effect on communities across Scotland,” she said yesterday.
“The north-east in particular experienced profound and prolonged hardship.
“Following Malik and Corrie, the storm damage was so severe that Edzell was completely cut off by fallen trees.
“In Fettercairn, sheltered housing complex Queen Elizabeth Court was without power for three nights.
“In Stonehaven, residents did not know where to go to access much-needed support.
“The scale of human endeavour to help the stranded and hungry will stay with us in the north-east for a long time, as will the haunting images of the devastation in places like Kemnay, Fettercairn and Edzell, where forests were all but flattened.”
She will add that “more should have been done to build resilience and protect communities”.
The government published a review into the response to the “exceptional” Storm Arwen earlier this year.
It recommended wide-ranging changes to
the way resilience partnerships – which include councils, police and health boards – operate in response to
such incidents. The 15 recommendations include improving how those most at risk are found and supported, better use of volunteers and community support, and more accurate communication by energy companies.
Others include practising mass door-knocking in areas affected by power outrages in future to ensure the welfare of affected people.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “The learning and improvement process from Storm Arwen and other recent severe storms is under way, following our review published earlier this year.”