STATEMENT FROM OLECG Orkney Local Emergency Co-ordinating Group Press Release Friday, 9 January 2015 The multi-agency Orkney Local Emergency Co-ordinating Group (OLECG) is asking friends and neighbours to keep an eye on potentially vulnerable people during the severe weather conditions the islands are experiencing. The group met this afternoon (Friday) in response to the forecast of further strong winds affecting Orkney during the next 24 hours. A Yellow “be aware” Met Office warning is in place from midnight tonight to 6pm on Saturday (January 10), with gusts of 50-70 mph predicted for Orkney, the Western Isles and northern Scotland. Chief Inspector Eddie Graham, Police Scotland’s Area Commander for Orkney, chaired the OLECG meeting. He said: “Electricity supplies have been disrupted to a number of homes in communities across Orkney as a result of last night’s storm conditions. “Scottish and Southern Energy are working hard to restore supplies to their customers, but in the meantime we’d ask that people call in on friends and neighbours who may be experiencing problems, just to make sure they are OK.” Anyone needing to contact Police Scotland should dial 101 or 999 in an emergency. Weather and transport advice is available via: orkney.gov.uk – go to Adverse Weather Alerts from the home page. These include a link to the Council’s new @OIC_Roads Twitter feed, where updates are posted if the Churchill Barriers are affected by the prevailing weather and tidal conditions. Met Office forecast and weather warnings: metoffice.gov.uk SEPA flood warnings: floodline.sepa.org.uk/floodupdates Radio Orkney’s Facebook page. orcadian.co.uk orkneyferries.co.uk northlinkferries.co.uk pentlandferries.co.uk hial.co.uk/kirkwall-airport
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 17:09:26 +0000