Storm Conor leaves Scotland

Transport Minister Humza Yousaf chaired a seventh Scottish Government resilience meeting this morning to hear about the recovery from Storm Conor as an amber alert was lifted by the Met Office.

Representatives from the Met Office, Transport Scotland, Police Scotland, SEPA and key responders all took part to update on the response to the impact of Storm Conor.

The most severe impacts of Storm Conor were felt in the Northern Isles and north Highlands and residual energy and telecoms issues are currently being dealt with by key responders. Energy companies expect to return power today to a small number of properties in Orkney & Shetland without power.

Mr Yousaf praised travel operators for a well co-ordinated effort to keep Scotland moving during Storms Barbara and Conor. As the transport network returns to near normal operation, the public continue to be advised to check before they travel.

Speaking after this morning’s meeting Mr Yousaf said:   

“There is no doubt that both Storm Barbara and Storm Conor have posed a significant challenge across Scotland over the festive period - transport operators, and energy and telecommunications providers in particular have been tested by the severe weather.

“However, I would like to praise their efforts for dealing with conditions and co-ordinating their efforts which in the main has allowed Scotland to keep moving over Christmas and Boxing Day. Although forecasts show a more settled period over the next few days, as always we are keeping a close watch as we look to the new year for any further disruptive weather events.

“I would thank the public for playing their part too and if making any journeys over the remainder of the festive period, that they plan ahead before setting out.”

Background 

The Scottish Government’s annual resilience marketing campaign, Ready Scotland, is a good reminder of the simple actions we can all take to prepare for adverse conditions.  Further information is available atwww.readyscotland.org

For real time journey information visitwww.trafficscotland.org, follow @trafficscotland on Twitter or call 0800 028 14 14.

The full Alerts, including the Chief Forecaster's Assessment and a map showing the areas included in the Alerts, are available athttp://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/warnings/

Over 120 gritters can be deployed to provide precautionary salt treatments to trunk roads. To patrol and provide additional salt treatments, a further 53 gritters are deployed as required. Salt stocks are in plentiful supply.