News / More storms threaten disruption and damage
MORE south easterly gales coupled with high seas such as those which caused damage the length of Shetland at the weekend have been forecast for the next week.
Ferry operators NorthLink are warning that disruption to services is likely from Wednesday 19 December to Monday 24 December with sailings being amended or cancelled.
The company said they would keep a close eye on the situation and update information at 10am daily, contacting affected customers by text message or telephone as soon as schedules had been confirmed.
Meanwhile Shetland Islands Council is still busy clearing up roads the length of the isles’ east coast after Saturday’s dramatic storm surge, combining easterly gales with spring tides.
Councillors and officials are meeting at Sandsayre, Sandwick, on Wednesday to survey the damage to the area around the pier where thousands of tonnes of beach stones have piled up against boat sheds.
At Haroldswick in Unst roadmen are battling their way through a depth of three feet of stone and seaweed that is still blocking one of two roads cut off by the storm.
SIC roads engineer Neil Hutcheson said it was common for roads to be submerged in storm debris during the winter months, but he had never seen so many areas struck at the same time.
“The unusual thing is that this has been so widespread,” Hutcheson said. “These things tend to happen in isolation, but for it to happen across the whole east side of Shetland is quite unusual.”
In Unst they had to clear a road in Uyeasound before heading for Harldswick where one road has been cleared and the second road is now being tackled with an excavator to avoid causing damage by scraping the rocks away.
The sea road at Boddam and the Mail junction at Cunningsburgh were also blocked, and damage to the sea road at Seafield, Lerwick, near Tesco, has reduced it to single vehicle traffic in places.
Local history group chairman Davy Johnson in Sandwick said some local retired men had gathered to clean out the interpretive centre that was flooded by the storm, leaving half inch layer of sand and silt in the floor.
The cladding of the building has been damaged by sea borne rocks which have piled up to windowsill height around the building.
“Thousands of tonnes of beach stones will have to be moved and regraded and hopefully the council will be able to help with that,” Johnson said.
Local resident Jack Barclay said the beach side road in Haroldswick was regularly blocked by debris during the winter, but it had taken longer to clean up than usual this time.
“It’s part of life here but normally it’s cleared up within a day or two,” he said, adding that there was an alternative route for drivers to take.
Neil Hutcheson said the Haroldswick job was delayed slightly as Uyeasound was dealt with first, but was also taking longer because of the depth of debris.
“If there had been less material we would have used a shovel, but we are using an excavator because we are trying to move it a distance from the road to stop it happening again and to avoid damaging the road by scraping it with a loading shovel.”
Local authorities in Aberdeen and Moray have applied to the Scottish government for funding to clear up the damage to their harbours and coastlines, but the SIC said the costs in Shetland came below the threshold for receiving assistance under the Bellwin scheme.
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