:00:10. > :00:12.We are treating the tumour instead Tonight on Newsnight Scotland:
:00:12. > :00:16.60,000 homes still without power, schools closed and widespread
:00:16. > :00:19.damage. Today's storm has been felt across the country. We'll have a
:00:19. > :00:26.detailed look at the day's events, and we'll hear from the Deputy
:00:26. > :00:29.First Minister on how we've coped. Good evening. Tonight, the wind is
:00:29. > :00:32.still howling, roads remain closed and thousands are without power.
:00:32. > :00:35.But we can't say we weren't warned. Many local authorities took the
:00:35. > :00:39.decision to close schools yesterday and people were sent home from work
:00:39. > :00:49.before the storm peaked. Have lessons been learned from last
:00:49. > :01:06.
:01:06. > :01:11.year's snow? Derek Bateman looks It has been the day of the red
:01:11. > :01:21.alert. The highest level of warning, extreme weather on the way. That
:01:21. > :01:30.
:01:30. > :01:37.meant extreme gales and destruction. Poor driving conditions and
:01:37. > :01:47.terrible weather. We have had gusts in the central belt upwards of 80
:01:47. > :01:49.
:01:49. > :01:57.mph. Significant disruption and very difficult conditions. Police
:01:57. > :02:03.advised, no trouble. The Forth and Erskine bridges were closed. This
:02:03. > :02:09.road was blocked in both directions as a result of fallen trees.
:02:09. > :02:18.Several hundred vehicles were stationary on the road. Many roads
:02:18. > :02:26.were closed by flooding and fallen trees.
:02:26. > :02:36.From Humphreys to Argyll, thousands lost their power supply. --
:02:36. > :02:39.
:02:39. > :02:46.Humphreys. Train lines were closed and 63 passengers were stranded on
:02:46. > :02:51.a train. Flights were disrupted and hospital clinics closed. But this
:02:51. > :02:57.was VE Day when a year of planning came into play. Cast your mind back
:02:57. > :03:02.to last December. Scotland gripped by a carpet of snow which brought
:03:02. > :03:07.main trouble corridors to a standstill for our was. Families
:03:07. > :03:14.slept in their cars, awaiting rescue. And minister resigned. The
:03:14. > :03:19.new regime has stockpiled salt, has convoys of gritters and has met
:03:19. > :03:25.during the night with advice from police and meteorologists to ensure
:03:25. > :03:35.that all that can be done will be an to have a ready made answer for
:03:35. > :03:38.
:03:38. > :03:43.critics who say, you were unprepared. There is a more robust
:03:43. > :03:52.communication system. The entire school system in Glasgow was caused,
:03:52. > :03:55.a situation relate to parents by a text message. -- relaid. Other
:03:55. > :04:01.councils did the same under the instruction of the government.
:04:01. > :04:09.Others said they would close at noon. Workplaces ended early. Many
:04:09. > :04:16.sent staff home as soon as they arrived. The FX on the economy were
:04:16. > :04:26.greater than the public sector strike last week. But did we over-
:04:26. > :04:27.
:04:27. > :04:32.react? Was it reasonable to close schools or was it a health and
:04:32. > :04:38.safety induced panic? If they have been an under reaction, people
:04:38. > :04:42.would be queuing up to criticise. We had information from the experts,
:04:42. > :04:47.at the Met Office and the police. It was appropriate got us to act in
:04:47. > :04:51.the way that we did. And the forecast is a government determined
:04:51. > :04:54.not to be blown off course again by bad weather.
:04:54. > :04:56.I'm joined by our weather presenter Christopher Blanchett and from
:04:56. > :05:05.Edinburgh by the Met office's Chief advisor to the Scottish government
:05:05. > :05:11.Alex Hill. Christopher, just put today into some kind of context. We
:05:11. > :05:19.have seen some extraordinary scenes in that report. How extraordinary
:05:19. > :05:27.it a day had it been? Extraordinary, as you have said, but in essence it
:05:27. > :05:37.was a winter storm. What was different was the location. The
:05:37. > :05:42.
:05:42. > :05:48.winds channelled through a highly populated areas. -- highly. Most
:05:48. > :05:54.people would have noticed big red sign suddenly popping up. Explain
:05:54. > :06:00.assistant to us. The colour coded warnings are relatively new. They
:06:00. > :06:03.are designed around the essence of impact. So before, we used to talk
:06:03. > :06:10.about wind speeds reaching a certain level and therefore it
:06:10. > :06:14.could trigger a warning. Now if it reaches a certain level of, the
:06:14. > :06:24.warning is not automatically triggered, but they look at where
:06:24. > :06:28.
:06:28. > :06:37.the wind speeds will hit. The red warning was issued today because of
:06:38. > :06:46.the speeds and vocation. Last Jeb we saw wind speeds in the Shetlands
:06:46. > :06:50.very similar to today. And how many of these warnings can we expect?
:06:50. > :06:57.They take a lot of care about issuing these red warnings because
:06:57. > :07:03.they are the highest they can issue. Usually there are one or two a year.
:07:03. > :07:08.Alex, did today pan out as you expected? Pretty much so, as far as
:07:08. > :07:13.the weather was concerned. It was almost spot on. I don't want to
:07:13. > :07:19.gloat about it. You are only as good as your last forecast. I think
:07:19. > :07:23.it is a case of we got this one generally right. Right place, right
:07:23. > :07:27.severity and we can be fairly comfortable with what we said.
:07:27. > :07:30.time last year, you were on this programme and other programmes
:07:30. > :07:34.saying we warned you about the snow and it didn't work out the way
:07:34. > :07:40.people had expected. What was different this time? What is
:07:40. > :07:46.different is the work that has been done over the year. It is
:07:46. > :07:56.tremendous to see organisations working together. We have had
:07:56. > :07:57.
:07:57. > :08:03.multi-agency response teens getting data all the time. We have had
:08:03. > :08:07.feedback from the Met Office as well. When you put the expertise in
:08:07. > :08:11.weather together with the expertise on the impact of what er, do you
:08:11. > :08:16.get this kind of result. You get people that are saved, transport
:08:16. > :08:21.organisations that know what they are doing, the police are up to
:08:21. > :08:25.date, by organisations are up to date, the NHS is up-to-date,
:08:25. > :08:35.utilities are kept on. It is this combination, putting together quips
:08:35. > :08:40.
:08:40. > :08:45.of expertise together. -- groups. It has been a great success. Do you
:08:45. > :08:49.think there was complacency beforehand? I don't think so. None
:08:49. > :08:54.of us truly understood what the various in packs would come in and
:08:54. > :09:00.there was a tendency for us to be reactive instead of proactive. The
:09:00. > :09:07.difference between now and not just last year, but the last five years,
:09:07. > :09:14.is that we are more pro active in giving information. The early
:09:14. > :09:23.warnings it you heads up to think about what is happening. As you get
:09:23. > :09:27.closer to an event you can become more aware of what when and why.
:09:27. > :09:33.People did react. The man in the streets set, I will have a day at
:09:33. > :09:39.home today. I will not drive on the road. Was there an over reaction?
:09:39. > :09:48.Today we have seen an effective system. Maybe it was too effective.
:09:48. > :09:57.Economically, if there were lots of these days, it could be damaging.
:09:57. > :10:02.Was it appropriate today. Absolutely. If we did not do
:10:02. > :10:07.anything... I am not suggesting that. It is difficult to know what
:10:07. > :10:17.would have happened if people did not take the action we suggested
:10:17. > :10:18.
:10:18. > :10:24.they take. The way things stand, we got through this. It looks as if
:10:24. > :10:28.there has been no loss of life or serious injury. Yes, there has been
:10:29. > :10:35.an economic cost, but there has not been at cost to life or limb and
:10:35. > :10:45.that is the most important thing. These extra make weather events are
:10:45. > :10:50.quite common now. -- extraordinary. One sort of winter should we be
:10:51. > :10:56.expecting? At the moment, it is a quiet weekend. We have got standard
:10:56. > :11:06.stuff. We are watching the beginning of next week, Tuesday
:11:06. > :11:07.
:11:07. > :11:11.night possibly. The bulk of the strong winds will be over England
:11:11. > :11:21.and Wales. It is a little bit early to be more precise. What about the
:11:21. > :11:26.longer term? We look up to the end of the mob in some kind of detail,
:11:26. > :11:33.but even that, I would not be putting out scare stories at this
:11:33. > :11:39.stage. Standard winter, let us be ready for it. And top lessons, in
:11:39. > :11:44.terms of what happened today? get the information about, people
:11:44. > :11:51.take notice and react and stay safe. That is the most important thing of
:11:51. > :11:55.all. Thank you. A little earlier I spoke to the Deputy First Minister
:11:55. > :12:00.Nicola Sturgeon, who has been running the Scottish government's
:12:00. > :12:06.response to this extreme weather. Although we still have heavy winds
:12:06. > :12:12.across the central belt, they have been easing. The winds are moving
:12:12. > :12:22.northwards. The police have no travel advice warnings in place
:12:22. > :12:23.
:12:23. > :12:33.until tomorrow morning. It is also likely the temperatures will be
:12:33. > :12:34.
:12:34. > :12:39.lower elsewhere. There is a risk of snow, perhaps blizzard conditions.
:12:39. > :12:43.We continue to monitor the situation clearly. This evening I
:12:43. > :12:47.have had it resilience meeting of the Scottish government and the
:12:47. > :12:52.next meeting at ministerial level will take place at 8:30am tomorrow
:12:52. > :12:56.morning. There are still tens of thousands of people without power.
:12:56. > :13:06.When can those communities expect to be connected to the group once
:13:06. > :13:12.
:13:12. > :13:17.We discussed this earlier this evening. At that time there were
:13:17. > :13:23.16,000 people between Scottish Power and Scottish Electricity
:13:23. > :13:25.customers who didn't have power. It's important to understand the
:13:25. > :13:29.electricity companies themselves today have been frustrated by the
:13:29. > :13:32.high winds. Obviously, they have to think of the safety of those
:13:32. > :13:36.working for them. They're working extremely hard to get people
:13:36. > :13:38.reconnected. They have lots of resources. They have additional
:13:39. > :13:43.resources from south of the border working on this. The estimate
:13:43. > :13:48.earlier on was that Scottish Power hoped to have everybody reconnected
:13:48. > :13:51.by late tomorrow afternoon. Scottish and Southern Energy may
:13:51. > :13:55.take into Saturday, but obviously they'll be working as hard as
:13:55. > :13:58.possible to accelerate it. That'll be one of the issues we continue to
:13:58. > :14:04.monitor into tomorrow. This time last year there was a struggle to
:14:04. > :14:09.deal with the snow conditions in Scotland. Things seem to have
:14:09. > :14:13.worked out much better today. What lessons have you learned from last
:14:14. > :14:17.year? The weather last year and the weather today was exceptional, and
:14:17. > :14:20.it's circumstances beyond our control, but many lessons were
:14:20. > :14:24.learned from the experience last year, and I think that has stood
:14:24. > :14:28.all of us in good stead today. We have been battered by the winds
:14:28. > :14:34.today. This is only the third time in ten years that we've seen the
:14:34. > :14:38.kind of wind speeds that we've experienced today. There has been
:14:38. > :14:41.widespread disruption. There still is for very many people,
:14:41. > :14:44.particularly those we have just been talking about without
:14:44. > :14:49.electricity. People have been inconvenienced for a whole variety
:14:49. > :14:53.of reason, but I think in all the circumstances, Scotland has coped
:14:53. > :14:57.today as well as could have been expected. That's down to the
:14:57. > :15:01.efforts of very many people working in our emergency services and
:15:01. > :15:05.transport companies, but it's also down to the patience, the
:15:05. > :15:09.forebearence and the willingness of the public to heed the advice being
:15:09. > :15:13.given. Communication was key. It was interesting, yesterday some
:15:13. > :15:16.local authorities were deciding to shut their schools early. Others
:15:16. > :15:19.waited until they were instructed by the police and the Scottish
:15:19. > :15:23.Government. Doesn't that suggest there is still a need foreeven
:15:23. > :15:27.greater coordination? Advice was issued last night to local
:15:27. > :15:31.authorities. There weren't instructions given ultimately for
:15:31. > :15:37.local authorities to decide whether schools open or close. We issued
:15:37. > :15:40.that advice last night based on the information we were given at a 9.30
:15:40. > :15:44.resilience meeting by both the Met Office and the police. That advice
:15:44. > :15:49.was communicated to local authorities, and local authorities
:15:49. > :15:53.took the appropriate action. I think given the experience today,
:15:53. > :15:56.the decision that was made and the action the local authorities took
:15:57. > :15:59.turned out to be the right decisions. Part of the reasons we
:15:59. > :16:03.have coped as well as could have been expected today is the right
:16:03. > :16:07.decisions were taken at the right time. We'll seek to continue to do
:16:07. > :16:10.this while this weather lasts. you have any estimate on how much
:16:10. > :16:15.this will ultimately cost the Scottish economy? Because we have
:16:15. > :16:22.had such massive disruption to such key elements of the national
:16:22. > :16:26.infrastructure, not the least the Forth Bridge, the roads and rail
:16:26. > :16:30.network? I am sure estimates will emerge over the next few days. As
:16:30. > :16:33.you can appreciate, our focus today has been ensuring we can cope with
:16:33. > :16:37.the conditions we face. Absolutely, many employers were rightly
:16:37. > :16:41.allowing their staff to go home early. Obviously, there were
:16:41. > :16:44.widespread school closures, the bridge closures and all the other
:16:44. > :16:49.disruption will have had an impact on the economy today, but the
:16:49. > :16:53.decisions that were being taken today were being taken for the
:16:53. > :16:56.right reasons, with safety our paramount condition. I am satisfied
:16:56. > :17:04.we took the appropriate conditions. That's what we'll seek to continue
:17:04. > :17:08.to do. You talked about last year's events being exceptional and this
:17:08. > :17:12.year's events being exceptional. We keep on getting what are
:17:12. > :17:16.exceptional weather events. How prepared are you as a government to
:17:16. > :17:20.continue to be surprised in future months and years? I think we have
:17:20. > :17:24.to be ready for whatever the weather throws at us. The weather
:17:24. > :17:28.is beyond the control of any government, but what is not beyond
:17:28. > :17:32.our control is to be as prepared as we possibly can be. We've got
:17:32. > :17:36.robust systems in place over the course of today, although I don't
:17:36. > :17:40.estimate for a second the degree of inconvenience that has been
:17:40. > :17:43.suffered by people today, but nevertheless, we have coped as well
:17:43. > :17:49.as as could have been expected because we were prepared, and we
:17:49. > :17:55.were able to take the right decisions, and we have to make sure
:17:55. > :17:59.that is the right decision at all times, perhaps not exclusively but
:17:59. > :18:02.during the winter months. Not what you would normally expect to see on
:18:02. > :18:08.Newsnight, but this hasn't been a normal day. Here's Christopher with
:18:08. > :18:13.I thought I would start by looking back over the last 24 hours. This
:18:13. > :18:17.is where the low pressure was sitting, the storm, in the Atlantic,
:18:17. > :18:21.but steaming towards Scotland. During the early morning hours it
:18:21. > :18:26.pushed in, sitting off the west coast by 9.00pm or 10.00pm. You can
:18:26. > :18:29.see the winds whipping around the centre gusting at times up to 90mph.
:18:29. > :18:32.That low continued to move in through the day towards the
:18:32. > :18:35.afternoon. Notice the wind strength would have been at the height
:18:35. > :18:42.really through the central belt because of the wind direction
:18:42. > :18:45.coming in on a westerly breeze there, and 957, the pressure,
:18:45. > :18:50.continually deepening and strengthening. That's when we saw
:18:50. > :19:00.the wind gusts at their worst. They moved away towards the evening. We
:19:00. > :19:00.
:19:00. > :19:07.saw some strong gusts today - 91 in Tiree. 81 in Prestwick. It's not
:19:07. > :19:11.done tonight. Here it is sitting to the east of us, continuing to move
:19:11. > :19:17.towards Scandinavia, but the sting in the tail is colder air coming
:19:17. > :19:22.down from behind it and snow showers coming through highland
:19:22. > :19:27.Grampian and Aberdeenshire. Storm force winds are here, gusting at 80
:19:27. > :19:32.plus miles per hour. We have an amber warning for the snow and the
:19:32. > :19:38.wind - treacherous driving the next couple of hours. The snow showers
:19:38. > :19:42.fade away. In the south-west, wintry above two or 300 metre,
:19:42. > :19:46.otherwise reasonably dry. Cold - 2- 3 Celsius. Inland areas, freezing
:19:46. > :19:50.or just below. Tomorrow the low pressure continues to move away
:19:50. > :19:53.towards Scandinavia, but then we open the floodgates from the north.
:19:53. > :19:57.Very cold northerly winds sweeping in across the whole of the country.
:19:58. > :20:03.It will be a cold day. Tomorrow morning across the south-west,
:20:03. > :20:09.those showers continuing to be wintry, above 200 metres before
:20:09. > :20:16.they disappear. Heavy showers into Schettlan and Orkney. Winds strong