West Fife battered by 90mph winds
Published 3 Jan 2012 09:30
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A tree blown down on Coal Road in Dunfermline, which has been closed for much of the day.
Picture: Jim Payne
WEST Fife is being battered by severe gales, which have caused significant disruption and damage.
The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings for Central, Tayside and Fife, with the strong winds expected to continue until late into the day.
The Forth Road Bridge has been closed to all vehicles since 8.30am today, with wind speeds of 92mph recorded.
Fallen trees have caused several road closures in Dunfermline, including Coal Road, Moodie Street, and Pilmuir Street at Queen Anne High School.
Also closed are the A907 Carnock to Gartarry road, and Sunnyside Road from Oakley to Cairneyhill.
All council recycling centres are shut and bin collections have been suspended. Parts of West Fife, including Cairneyhill, are also without power.
All rail services north of Edinburgh have been suspended due to the stormy weather, including the Fife Circle line, and Network Rail Edinburgh's Waverley station has been closed to trains and passengers for safety reasons.
Fife police are asking the public to stay indoors owing to the severe winds.
Superintendent Alex Duncan advised, "Our staff are dealing with numerous weather related incidents and calls throughout the Fife area and I would urge people not to travel unless absolutely essential.
"The wind is blowing debris onto roads and trees are falling exposing moving traffic to real danger and this weather is to continue for at least a few hours.
"We would also urge the public only to contact the emergency services where absolutely necessary to ensure we can deliver essential services as and when required."
Police also advised the public to listen to media broadcasts, especially local radio stations, and visit www.trafficscotland.org.
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Tradesman
93 posts
Jan 3, 16:39
Report commentYes we have trees down, tiles ripped from roofs and fences blown down; these were the result of the worst winds in the West Fife area for many a year.
Much of this was not predictable.
What has been known for months are the ever deteriorating states of the roads in an around Dunfermline; Dunfermline is clearly in Fife Council's Category 'B' as they do not seem short of repairs in Kirkcaldy, Fife Council's Category 'A'.
All of these road conditions were known; what was predictable was that they have deteriorated through lack of maintenance!
Recommend?
Yes 65
No 5
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Dustymagic
1 post
Jan 4, 12:35
Report commentFor the second time in less than a month the main artery North of Edinburgh has been closed causing horrendous disruption to commuters and business transport throughout central Scotland, closing the Forth bridge in High winds is without a doubt the right thing to do, but to continue with plans to build a second bridge is nothing short of myopic. Yes a tunnel may be more expensive initially, but I have yet to hear of one being closed due to bad weather. I accept that Petrol tankers cannot travel through the tunnel, but as central Scotland's main oil refinery is situated less than than 4 miles from Kincardine bridge, this argument is moot.
We need a traffic system which assumes the worst and plans for it as opposed to going with the least suitable option at the outset.
I would like to challenge the Transport minister to a £100 wager (payable to the charity of his choice) that a new bridge once commissioned will not survive 12 months of use without some form of travel restriction due to high winds being imposed on traffic.
Recommend? Yes 29
No 3
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cutiefox12
33 posts
Jan 4, 18:44
Report commenttake it that will be the coal road closed for repair again. It is time that road is widened and the trees taken down, when it is closed you can see that it is a loss of a major route bypassing the town, causing the traffic going into the town from the bottom end to be horrendous. I know it won't happen, as the tree lovers will step in saying "we must save the trees", I say this is the 21st century get a life it is called progress.
Recommend? Yes 20
No 7
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bigbarryobama
26 posts
Jan 4, 23:43
Report commentThe new bridge is designed to be specifically wind resistant and protect the traffic on it from the wind. It would not have to close in the situation experienced yesterday.
Recommend? Yes 7
No 6
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ambeva
1 post
Jan 5, 20:30
Report commentExcellent! So you want the coal road widened and trees removed. Just what I need, more cars booting past my flat, all because you can't be arsed to sit in traffic. Get a bike
Recommend? Yes 10
No 9
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stormxxx
132 posts
Jan 6, 04:19
Report commentWot was the big deal? i got to work ok..my hair was a bit freaky but hell i aint there to look pretty lol na i know this was real bad..i slept through it weirdly enough..i know it was nasty an im glad everyone was safe... : )
Recommend? Yes 5
No 0
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cutiefox12
33 posts
Jan 6, 14:06
Report commentambeva, with that attitude to progress perhaps you should move to the country.
Recommend? Yes 4
No 5
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******
Jan 7, 17:12
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cutiefox12
33 posts
Jan 8, 12:13
Report commentso you walk everywhere, or do you get buses, oops don't think so, the buses use petrol.
Recommend? Yes 4
No 0
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DunfermlineEast
137 posts
Jan 8, 13:31
Report commentBunnyman is a troll cutiefox12. You are entitled to your opinion, some people, like bunnyman, would like to silence you and mock you but do not feed trolls and they will go away. Of course the trees on the west side of that road should be pruned - the ones in the park never cause a problem and the ones next to the fields have only been a nuisance since they have been left to nature over the past 10 years.
Recommend? Yes 7
No 0
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******
Jan 9, 11:27
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ROBROY
35 posts
Jan 9, 12:47
Report commentThere is no doubt, that we had salt aplenty. I do not know if it came from Australia as was suggested by Dr Bob Mclellan's boss. Whatever, not a lot of use against the big winds.
We do get big winds from time to time throughout the year and not only in the winter season. I know, it is difficult to predict them in this day and age when we can make invisible aircraft and destroy the innards of buildings, including the residents, without damaging the building. We also see the world weather and can track cyclones, hurricanes and the like across continents, but as for BIG WINDS, we are at a loss.
Let us be clear, the advocates of building another bridge as bigbarryobama has correctly pointed out, would not travel across it when the BIG WINDS BLOW! Well, not unless they were going to take up para gliding without any aids. Another very crap decision, a bit like the revamped(?) Carnegie Leisure Centre.
Recommend? Yes 3
No 0
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******
Jan 20, 02:13
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