Storm Force Scotland

Good evening. Welcome to you on a wintry night to this special

programme, looking at the extraordinary weather events this

week. It began like any other Tuesday morning in January and then

this happened... Winds of over 100 mph blasted

across the country. Many are only now beginning to count the cost of

the most violent storms in the generation. We are live in some of

the worst-hit communities. I am on the Isle of Bute, where

they have been without power for most of the week and Alan Sperrin

has kept them going. -- Ireland spirit.

And I will be assessing the damage at this farm.

We will be asking what can we do, how are we Cobbing, what is the

plan and whether we should expect extreme weather to become the norm?

And I will have the meteorology behind a storm and when there was

such a sting in its tail. Many Davos are still counting the

cost of a storm which was shocking in its force and power. -- many of

The first storm of 2012. We were warned. The Met Office have issued

an amber warning for wind. But not By the time they Met Office had

issued a red alert, Glasgow and the West were being battered and

bruised by the worst storms for 15 years. For some, getting into work

was almost farcical. For many, Tuesday it was no laughing matter.

This was my pride and joy, my retirement project. I want to get

it out before the roof collapses. And there were millions of pounds

worth of damage. We haven't been able to use the front door. A stone

is balanced on the edge of the roof. It is pretty scary having to be

evacuated from your home. The wind has blown really high and the next

thing, the bricks came down. Miraculously, few people were hurt.

Five were injured in the afternoon. -- in Dunoon. We were called in the

morning. There were multiple casualties. High winds had

overturned several caravans. meant a mission for this rescue

helicopter, based hundreds of miles away, in Stornoway. It was quite

bumpy. The initial transit took about one hour 15 minutes, but it

was two hours on the way back. Large parts of the country were

left with no electricity. At the worst point, 100,000 were cut off.

This has been the worst winter I have seen in my career in Scottish

Power, I have been with the company 15 years. Many endured a long wait

to be reconnected. We just have to cuddle up for the day! We heard a

bang at about 8:15am. Insurance companies are still working out for

the Bill of repairs, it is certain to come to tens of millions. Four

builders, there is a lot of extra work. Today, I have received about

250 calls, ranging from slipped tiles to severe damage. If anything,

this is the defining image of the week, seen first on BBC Scotland.

One of the police officers at the scene described it as looking like

something from a film. If you look across the road, it is miraculous

that nobody has been injured. Cladding from the roof of a tower

block hit the front of this House. Scotland is still counting the cost

of the storms and the damage will take weeks to repair.

Standby for the technical stuff with the man in the know.

Christopher, what happened? The day before, we can see the

storm viewing in the Atlantic. -- brewing. Atlantic air ran into

Arctic air. We knew it was coming and there was an amber warning.

From Monday into Tuesday, we can follow the track of the storm. It

rapidly deepens. This is what meteorologists would call an

It is very difficult to forecast but what this could provide was 100

mph wind at surface level. This is a satellite image. There was a red

warning in place at this time. You can see the tape of the cloud, this

is this doing jet, where it originated. There is a lot of snow

within the cloud and as the ice crystals evaporate, the jet goes

through the layers and becomes denser and faster as it heads

towards the ground. It comes out like a bullet from a gun, in pulses.

Sometimes, you can hear the roar of the jet before you feel the effect.

This affected the central belt and The Isle of Bute bore the brunt of

much of the storm fall-out. The whole island was cut off and had no

power for three days. The island is no stranger to

getting a battering by the wind but look at his back garden. The shed

has been turned on its roof and next door's chimney came down and

luckily, landed in the back garden, missing his bed and breakfast by

inches. How had he been getting on? It has been really tough and very

dramatic. It has been unusual. Without power, you have a business

to run and two children. It must have been difficult? It was

difficult but for as, we had guests and no heating or light. I do not

think we will come in a hurry -- people would, in a hurry without

electricity. You were cut off. It must have been difficult, having no

phone line? There was no access to broadband, no telephone. People

were starting to wonder how long it would go on for. Rumours were that

it would go on for a long time. have got light and electric, how

does it feel to have it back? fears that great! We are sharing a

lot more. I can tell you that Crees that have withstood 200 years have

wind have been uprated. -- I can tell you that trees. Some people

have had no telephone, no power, no heating, and that is what the

island have been talking about. With me is Angela. What have people

been talking about on mind? People have been pleased at how the

community has come together. Shops have stayed open where they can,

they have held vulnerable people. Care workers have surpassed

themselves, as have neighbours and friends. It has put us in a good

light. The only area of concern has been the lack of information. The

local councillors did not seem to be readily available and there was

not any public information. We were relying on word of mouth. We were

very aware of what was going on. A public information., where you

could at least access your local council workers, would have put

people at ease. -- information point. There was a complaint that

company policy has let the community Dereham. There have been

lessons to learn. One of the things that has come out of this, when you

hear stories of things being delivered to the care home, it has

been amazing. It is even more amazing when you take the local

council out of it. The Community achieved this by themselves. It has

been fantastic. What do you do if you have your extended family in

your house? You have no power, no telephone, nothing happening. You

hide your entire family under one roof. What was it like? It was

quite enjoyable. We were lucky enough to have a generator running

the central heating. We had a goal fire -- coal fire and gas stove.

Everybody came in. It was enjoyable. It was hard work because you were

constantly washing. I do not know how people cope in the past. We had

a nice family time. We had to sit and play games, it was lovely.

I can tell is that they did run out of Jane! -- Jane. The parrot

companies said they were not available to take part in the

programme tonight but say they had ingenious out to try and get power

back to the island. -- they had engineers.

Our next guests were in the thick of it this week. Keith Brown is a

Scottish Government minister and David system -- David Simpson is

the managing director of Network Rail in Scotland. Are you satisfied

with the responses are do you think lessons could be learned? There is

no question lessons can be learned. We understand the disruption caused

to people. This was an extreme event. We are grateful for the

communities and the public, who responded so well to the situation.

We have responded, whether it was power companies, real companies are

road companies, making sure they were available to clear tracks or

roads. You can always learn lessons and we will do that. What do you

think is the most significant lesson for you? We were a huge

recovery operation. There were thousands of trees on the railway

line. There was even a travelling on the railway! -- from Pauline. We

had chainsaw gangs and lots of recovery operations in Prius. -- in

place. It was the biggest operation for a decade. People will wonder

how much you can plan for something like this because you cannot be

100% proved against the weather. How much have you budgeted? The way

we planned for weather is critical to delivering the service to

passengers and freight users on the railway. It is a huge part of our

daily operation and something we learn from. We do need to make sure

that we respond as well as possible to future events of this nature.

When you look at what actually happened here, do you think that

there is an argument for a better co-ordination, because of what

people call the cascade failure effect? If there is flooding, the

roads are blocked, the power goes down, the mobile-phone network is

affected. Should we look at better co-ordination? There is a future

level of court nation already. The government has people like David,

the power companies and the train companies together in one place,

along with ministers. That is very successful. Everyone is trying to

communicate at the same time. The power companies try to communicate

their issues, as will the others. Every time we have one of these

events, let's not forget that in the last year, we have not just had

last winter, there were high winds in May, high rain in August,

volcanic ash, and each of these experiences should be a learning

experience for us. What can be done for the areas which are worst

affected, perhaps in terms of compensation? That will be between

private companies and individuals. We want to make sure we have the

transport networks open and that As we have already heard from beat,

the clean-up operation is in ball swing, especially in some of hour

more -- in some of our were more rural communities.

As you can see at this farm, the barn doors literally blew in. There

were thousands of pounds worth of damage. I was speaking to the NFU

earlier run today and they say thousands of other farms are in the

same position. They expect the total cost to run into tens of

millions of pounds. Let us be to the owner Richard. What happened?

The barn doors blew in. The roof then acted like a parachute. It

lifted and slammed itself back down again, destroying the guttering and

the masonry. It left the structure unsafe and many of the sheep's are

cracked. -- sheets. What will the knock-on effect before you? There

is the clearing up factor, which is man out was, but it takes time for

that to happen because we are waiting for quotes to come in for

the repairs. It is horrendous. insurance claim is in, so let us

talk to a man who knows a thing or two about getting your claim in

quick. You have had an unprecedented amount of claims for

this time of year, haven't you? Thankfully, we were able to get

someone out here on Wednesday. It was assessed on Friday. We have

responded quickly and we are trying to get them back on their feet as

quickly as possible. It is not just farmers picking up the pieces. What

is your advice to people generally who think they might want to make

an insurance claim? Speed your insurance company as soon as

possible. Get someone to look at the damage and assess it. Get it

sorted as soon as possible. The longer the property damage his left

and repaired, the worst it could be and the more complicated it will be

when it comes to making an insurance claim. There you go. Do

not wait. Read the small print of your claim, and do something about

it sooner rather than later. So was this week's stormed the

worst in living memory? It depends on how old you were. Some of us

remember the storm of 1968, which left two dozen people dead. David

Mellor has been looking back at some of the wildest whether we have

had to endure through the decades. -- David Miller.

January 1968, a storm of extraordinary violence rips across

central Scotland. The initial death toll of the 17 climbs and climbs

again. Glasgow and the West are hit the hardest. The sound of the wind

took over. It was really strong. Outside, of course, chimneys,

everything was crashing around. view from this flat was changed for

ever. A chimney stack crashed through the tenement building next

door. Two brothers and their children were killed. Sadie's

daughter had wanted to sleep there on the night of the storm. I told

my daughter to leave her doll there. We never saw it all the little girl

again. Winds of up to 90mph were funnelled over the hills. There was

an intense amount of squeezing of when macro through the gap. Many

people were left homeless and had to take refuge in the town hall.

Families whose homes are badly damaged had been coming here for

help. What happened to your house? The whole roof fell in. The chimney

stack fell into the kitchen. storms of 1968 have never been in a

forgotten, but the Scottish weather has often caused chaos in the

decades since then. In Air Show, a woman was killed after her car was

hit by a tree. The hurricane-force winds left a trail of destruction.

In 1980 Nile -- in 1989, wind speeds of 142mph were recorded.

Scotland's storms have often cost lives on the road. Some have had a

lucky escape. A were wild weather comes at a financial cost as people

living here discovered seven years ago. But as we count the cost of

last week's storm, perhaps it is worth remembering the many victims

of 1968 and reminding ourselves that the human cost this time

around could easily have been much, much higher. The Chief Government

Scientific Adviser for Scotland and Northern Ireland at the Met Office

is Alex Hill and he's joined us in the studio. When we talk about

extremes of weather, are the extremes becoming more extreme?

turns of wind, probably not. We are getting patterns and these

occasional storms. They are usually once in 30 or 50 year events. But

we are seeing a lot more flooding W Steer and in has a greater impact

than it used to. In terms of wind speed, not really. What we saw this

week was relatively normal. predictable is this? They today it

is not too bad. -- the day today is not bad. Have we need to look at

locations. We need to give people time to take action. We have always

made assumptions in the past that the coast would be worst affected,

but recently the central belt has taken a real fashion. What has

happened there? Because we are becoming dependent on things that

can be impacted by the weather. So where all the people are his way

you tend to find the biggest impact for what would not necessarily

impact as badly elsewhere where the population is less. What do you

think is the big one to watch out for? Is it flooding? Over the next

few months, the amount of water that comes out of this guide will

be the crucial thing. The ground is already sodden and we have seen the

impact with land slippage. It looks to be the big problem. Heavily

towards the end of the week things will dry up and we can take stock

of what has been going on, but watch out for heavy rain in the

short to medium term. And how much is the flooding issue factoring in

to your planning? We always have someone on it and we get an update

on the flood warnings. We are well aware of it. The -- We Never Take

Our eye off the ball. -- we never take. Is flooding a priority for

you when you look at the whole picture? Well, you cannot

concentrate in one area. You have to be aware of all types of weather.

If there is going to be more surface water, that would have a

big impact on the railways and we need to remember if they are not

working and the infrastructure is not there, it is not just the human

side, it is the whole economy. much so. Planning to do with

flooding is a priority for us. can't you do realistically? Is it

the type of track you lay? It is about investing in the right

drainage across the network that can cope with these heavy rain

falls. Alex, are we getting more weather. -- weather? In general, we

have always had lots of weather, but the impact is greater, our

systems are a bit more vulnerable than they used to be. We are more

reliant on having electricity and communications up and running 24

hours a day, seven days a week. 50 years ago, it did not work like

that and people were probably more patient than we are now.

Fingers and everything else crossed that we are in for some less

dramatic weather over the next week. Christopher is here again.

As we go through next week, it is looking fairly benign. Generally

mild with rain at times. Tomorrow morning, some drizzle through the

South, but quickly disappearing, leaving a dry and bright sunny day

for Scotland. Some cloud pushing its way in during the afternoon.

Into the evening, the showers look more like rain, particularly across

the far north. Much of the mainland will be dry and cloudy and mild.

Tuesday, we have this weather front working its way in bringing a brain

to northern Scotland. Elsewhere, a cloudy a day which hires top 10 or

11 degrees. Midweek and we have this area of low pressure working

its way in, just skirting past the not cop Scotland. Elsewhere, dry

and mild with some sunshine and the North. Calder air coming in on

Thursday. It could be wintry over the higher ground. Some sunshine on

Friday. Alloa working its way in for the weekend. -- 8 lower.

That's it from us. I hope we haven't depressed you too much. It