As I write this on Monday morning, many thousands of you will still be dealing with the aftermaths of a very stormy few days. Whether this was the impact of Storm Dudley, Eunice or Franklin, Suffolk have been absolutely battered by three storms in just four days. Many homes are still without power, with many more dealing with broken roof tiles, fences and upended trees.
Suffolk faced an unprecedented deluge of strong winds and torrential rain in a very short time, but our collective response once again stood-up quickly, worked together and kept people safe and the county moving. It was an enormous endeavour and I would sincerely like to thank everyone involved in the response. Suffolk’s councils, including Suffolk Highways, health bodies, utility companies and emergency services were incredibly busy responding to the storms. Work continued all weekend and the clean-up is still underway today. It was a substantial challenge, but once that we responded to very well – and I am very thankful to you all.
Just to give you an extent of our response, at 5pm on Friday, Suffolk police had dealt with 339 calls to 999 and 431 to 101 and Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service attended 51 incidents. As I write, Suffolk Highways have reported one of their busiest periods with 342 reports of fallen trees and road obstructions. Teams have worked overnight to clear the debris and keep the roads clear. Nearly 15,000 homes lost power at some point on Friday or over the weekend and UK Power Networks has been working round the clock to restore power. Our home lost power on Friday until Sunday, so I recognise how disruptive this is. One priority for Suffolk partners is making sure that vulnerable residents without power, are safe and secure. We have been working with UK Power Networks to map where these vulnerable homes are and the welfare vehicle has been out and about dispensing information, hot drinks and enabling mobile phones to be charged. This is also supported with door knocking.
You will have seen that on Friday morning, the Suffolk Resilience Forum – of which we are a partner – declared a major incident. Forum partners, including councils, health bodies, utility companies and the emergency services, made the decision following an assessment of the situation with Storm Eunice. Parts of Suffolk were placed in the red warning zone early Friday morning, which meant there was a significant risk of disruption and danger to life. Forecasters expected gusts of wind of up to 80mph between 10am and 3pm.
The declaration of a major incident formalises joint-working and resource sharing arrangements amongst organisations across Suffolk. It’s criteria is met when ‘an event or situation, with a range of serious consequences, requires special arrangements to be implemented by one or more emergency responder agencies’. It means that the incident is beyond the scope of business-as-usual operations and is likely to involve serious harm, damage, disruption or risk to human life, essential services and the environment. We had previously declared a major incident with our COVID 19 response. It was very clear from early on that the power of Storm Eunice needed the same response - it demanded a fully coordinated response with all blue light and multi-agency partners. The major incident was closed on Saturday morning, but partners continued to work together to clean-up and resolve issues, whilst also reviewing and responding to current weather conditions.
The fact that partners have been working so closely together throughout the pandemic, meant that the structures, lines of communications and governance were already in place to step-up our storm response quickly and effectively. Suffolk has, historically, worked well with partners. We recognise the power and benefit of a collective approach and work hard to get it right. We know it delivers enormous positives to Suffolk residents.
For those of you that suffered as a result of the storm, I hope you are able to restore things quickly, with limited impact and thanks again to all those who worked so hard over the weekend in challenging conditions.
In the event of bad weather, members of the public are encouraged to:
- Report fallen trees and obstructions on roads and paths to Suffolk Highways on 0345 606 6171
- Avoid coastal areas due to an increased risk of erosion posing danger to life
- Plan their journey well in advance and check for travel disruption before leaving. Visit https://one.network/ and using the ‘Weather’ layer to find out about road closures
- Following @SuffolkCC on Twitter or Suffolk County Council on Facebook
- Monitoring the weather forecast at www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/forecast/uk
- Get the latest information on Orwell Bridge closures at www.twitter.com/highwayseast
- Get advice on flooding and flood alerts at www.gov.uk/flood or on Floodline: 0345 988 1188. More information on Twitter at @envagencyanglia
