Severe storm damage
David O'Leary • Published 6 Jan 2012 09:30
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SEVERE storms brought chaos to Peeblesshire this week with roads blocked and hundreds of houses left without power.
Even as we went to press yesterday (Thursday) 70 homes in West Linton remained in the dark.
Villagers in Broughton and Lamancha were also without electricity for a day as trees crashed through supply lines.
And Biggar's High Street Post Office was forced to close due to a lack of power since Tuesday - leaving many elderly residents without access to their pensions.
Winds of over 90 miles-per-hour battered the region on Tuesday causing trees to topple.
The A702 had to be closed between Carlops and Dolphinton after a farm shed was blown into the carriageway at 9.40am.
BEAR Scotland workers raced to the scene and removed the debris within an hour
The early morning commute was also disrupted on the A694 between Leadburn and Howgate after a large tree came down.
This was eventually removed by Midlothian Council but the loss of power has hit the area the most.
Postmaster Calum Greenhow, who also runs West Linton Post Office, said: "The lack of power is impairing the Biggar shop greatly.
"What's concerning me most is that many pensioners withdraw their cash on a week-to-week basis. I understand however that Scottish Power are doing the best they can in difficult circumstances."
Engineers have spent much of the week attempting to reconnect households.
A spokeswoman for Scottish Power said: "We are still trying to reconnect 70 homes in the West Linton area.
"There were 1200 weather-related incidents on Tuesday alone across Scotland; we had more calls in that one day than we would usually have in three months.
"As rain and high winds returned last night (Wednesday), more problems were created and we had to step back from a number of jobs we were working on because of safety reasons.
"Our target is to get everyone back on today (Thursday)."
Over 600 engineers have been sent out in the storms to get the lights back on.
West Linton councillor Neil Calvert said: "The problem in the rural areas of West Linton is that there is no resilience or standby supply. Power can easily be re-routed to supply the village itself but this isn't this option in outlying areas.
"I applaud the efforts of Scottish Power to reconnect these homes as there is a lot of pressure on them at the moment."
Scottish Borders Council's Emergency Co-ordination Centre also leapt into action during the worst of the weather.
Thirty staff from SBC's Environment and Infrastructure department responded to approximately 70 call-outs in relation to trees fallen on roads.
However, it confirmed there was no reported damage to any council buildings.
The Met Office has stated that more settled weather is to move in over the course of the weekend with sunny spells and blustery showers expected in the south-east of Scotland.
This article appeared in Peeblesshire News 06 Jan 12
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