Gales hit West Lothian

Dec 15 2011 by Marjorie Kerr, West Lothian Courier

GALE force winds pounded West Lothian last week.

Schools across the county closed at noon on Thursday while council staff braved the icy blasts to deal with a number of incidents connected to the wind.

Council arborists, with support from private contractors, had a busy time dealing with 47 incidents of fallen trees and branches, including an oak tree in Gowanbank, Livingston, which fell onto three properties.

Workers from roads and NETS and land services were involved in resolving 16 cases of minor flooding, while a further 50 call outs were made by council staff in relation to the strong winds.

Extra crews from the council’s roads, NETS and land services, and street cleansing services carried out a clean-up on Friday morning, including removing a number of trees.

Building Services staff responded to 168 emergency works orders, the majority connected to roofing issues such as leaks and loose tiles.

Bin collections were also suspended from 1pm on Thursday, with any bins not emptied picked up the following day.

A West Lothian Council spokesperson said: “We would like to thank local residents for their understanding while we coped with the impact of some of the strongest winds Scotland has experienced in recent years.

“The early weather forecasts suggested West Lothian might escape the full impact of the winds until after regular school finishing times but updated forecasts showed the winds striking earlier than expected.

“The decision to close schools early is not taken lightly, but the safety of pupils has to be the number one priority.

“We would particularly like to thank all our staff who were outside working during the worst of the bad weather, carrying out many essential jobs.”