Fresh call for military assistance and thousands of pupils at home amid 'one of biggest snow events of last 20 years'
Major incident declared by a council fearing communities will be cut off by drifts
Hundreds of schools will be closed for a third day today amid “one of the biggest snow events of the last 20 years” as one local authority declared a major incident and fresh calls were made for military assistance to support communities worst affected by the deep, wintry conditions.
In Aberdeenshire, so much snow has gathered in some villages that the council is planning to draft in lorries to carry it away.
A major incident has been declared by Aberdeenshire Council given the likely “prolonged period of significant impacts” given the persistent snowfall and forecast icy conditions.
The local authority warned there was a “good chance” some communities would be cut off by the continued snowfall, with vehicles and passengers becoming stranded.
All schools in Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City will remain closed today with Highland Council to close 50 schools, with 5,000 children to stay home. Some schools will remain closed in Moray.
Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland Andrew Bowie reiterated calls for the military to be mobilised to help clear snow and deliver essential supplies, but it is understood that no request for assistance has been received by the Ministry of Defence.
The West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine MP said: “The situation has now become critical. Many people are increasingly cut off, with access to essential food supplies and medical provisions becoming extremely difficult and, in some instances, impossible.
“There is a growing risk that individuals may be left without basic necessities unless urgent action is taken.”
First Minister John Swinney told Holyrood that “all resources are mobilised to help the situation” as communities brace themselves for more disruption in coming days.
He added he would take the request to UK Government for military assistance if local authorities needed further support.
A spokesperson for Aberdeenshire Council said that heavy snowfall overnight - including icy rain - would likely cause further disruption today.
“We appreciate that this is a very challenging time for many of you and particularly those living in our most rural locations and smaller settlements – and our teams are working to support individuals who are struggling. If you can, please look out for each other – check on neighbours – especially those who are elderly, vulnerable or living alone,” a statement said.
It added: "The decision to escalate to a major incident enables us to focus attention on the emergency response, prioritise and reallocate staff and resources and work efficiently with partners to protect life, maintain essential services and support community resilience.
“It is particularly important to do this when we are seeing such serious disruption on our residents welfare, our infrastructure such as the roads network and essential services.
“A key element of the process is that we can suspended or scale back non-critical work so that officers and specialist staff can be redeployed to essential response functions."
The response comes following a series of amber warnings and a further yellow warning for up to 20cm more snow for the northern half of Scotland all day.
A separate yellow alert for ice will cover most of the rest of the country and other parts of Britain until 10am.
Large parts of Scotland have struggled to keep moving as fresh snowfall combined with drifts bring cars to a standstill.
Iain Cameron, a snow researcher, posted on X: “The A90 south of Aberdeen looks like something from a video you see of Arctic Norway or Finland.
“One of the biggest snow events of the last 20 years in north east Scotland for sure”.
Snowploughs battled to keep major roads open but the A96 became blocked for a time on Tuesday afternoon between Keith and Huntly.
There were several incidents on the A9, with a crash closing the road near Aviemore on Tuesday afternoon, hours after the road was shut in Caithness for the recovery of a Royal Mail lorry which had crashed at Berridale Braes in Caithness on Monday.
A fallen tree caused problems on the A887 at Invermorriston and Dundreggan, west of Loch Ness.
Network Rail faced “acute challenges” in clearing snow from the lines between Inverness and Kyle of Lochalsh and Wick/Thurso.
The company said two snowploughs were running between Aberdeen and Inverness but “appalling conditions around Insch remain a challenge for our team” with the line open only between Elgin and Inverness.
Last night, the Aberdeen-Inverness line reopened after workers cleared snow up to 4ft (1.2m) deep on parts of the route.
Loganair cancelled several flights between Aberdeen, Kirkwall and Norwich, while CalMac suspended some sailings between Ardrossan/Troon and Brodick in Arran.
Snow clearing was underway at Aberdeen Airport following a “bad downpour”.
An Aberdeen-bound flight from Tenerife was diverted to Glasgow, although it was expected to refuel and complete its journey. Another flight from Birmingham was switched to Edinburgh.
The Glasgow Subway was closed for a time by a power failure at its depot in Govan caused by ice on the third rail which powers the trains.
NHS Grampian closed several clinics along with vaccination centres in Aberdeenshire and Moray.
Meanwhile, Scottish Premiership match between Livingston and St Mirren on Tuesday night was postponed because of the weather.
Four Scottish Championship matches were also been postponed: Partick Thistle v Inverness, Arbroath v East Fife, Queen's Park v Forfar and Stirling Albion v Stenhousemuir.
Pitlochry Festival Theatre was among venues closing early on Tuesday, along with several libraries and art galleries in Aberdeen.
Mr Swinney praised road crews, farmers and others for helping out others as wintry conditions intensified.
He said: "We have been greatly assisted by members of the farming community and others in rural Scotland who used their own equipment to try to help clear routes to assist the public authorities.
"I pay the warmest tribute to everybody who has made that contribution.”
However, he rebuffed claims by the Scottish Conservatives of poorly communicating the extreme weather.
North east Scotland Conservative MSP Liam Kerr said on Tuesday: "The community response to weather which has today been declared a major incident has been admirable and extraordinary, unlike the [Scottish] Government's absence in action and lack of communication, which has been appalling."
But the First Minister said: "There has been full engagement with public authorities on all of these issues, as there is on every occasion.
"There has also been very active communication by ministers and by those who act on our behalf.
"We are working closely with Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Council, and if there is any assistance that is required by these authorities, the Government will be happy to take forward that work."
Meantime, Britain's first named storm of the year is due to blow in on Thursday, bringing heavy snow and strong winds, although its likely path across Britain remains still uncertain.
The French meteorological service Meteo France has named it as Goretti, and the south of the UK is expected to be most heavily affected on Thursday and Friday.
Although it is expected Scotland won’t be impacted as badly as the south of the UK, Met Office Deputy Chief Forecaster Chris Bulmer said: "The exact track of the low is still uncertain, and these warnings are likely to be amended – and potentially escalated – over the coming days.
“It is therefore vital people keep up-to-date with the latest forecasts.”
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.