Stirling’s scheduled bin collections for Friday have been scrapped, all council-run facilities will stay shut and burial services will be cancelled as Storm Eowyn batters the country.
In an update on Thursday afternoon, Stirling Council confirmed that all schools and nurseries will be closed, bin pick-ups suspended, recycling centres closed, all council libraries, buildings (including Customer First) and community centres and venues closed.
In addition, all council car parks will be shut to drivers, all burial services will be cancelled, all Registrar services cancelled, The Peak and Stirling Sports Village will be closed, the C60 bus service will be suspended and the Park and Ride Services at Castleview and Springkerse will be suspended.
Care at home house visits will take place where it’s safe to do, prioritising the most vulnerable.
The rare red weather warning is in force from 10am until 5pm on Friday and the Met Office says that flying debris could result in “danger to life”, very dangerous driving conditions with fallen trees on roads, power cuts, damage to buildings and homes and roads, bridges and railway lines could close.
A Met Office forecaster said: “Southwesterly then westerly winds will rapidly increase from west to east Friday mid-morning onwards into the afternoon, with peak gusts of 80-90mph fairly widely and perhaps up to 100mph along exposed western coasts.
“This brings the risk of significant disruption to transport and power supplies as well as dangerous conditions outdoors. Winds will gradually ease through Friday evening.”
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In addition, a yellow weather warning for snow is in place between 6am and midnight on Friday. A forecaster added: “Outbreaks of rain spreading north-eastwards on Friday morning will fall as snow initially, especially on hills, before reverting to rain and eventually easing.
“As much as 15-25cm is possible above 300m. Given the strong winds that will accompany the snow, temporary blizzard conditions are possible over higher ground, with some drifting also possible for a time. At lower levels, snow will be more transient in nature and accumulations smaller, patchier and shorter-lived as snow turns to rain during the morning.”
Police Scotland has urged people to avoid any form of travel in areas impacted by the red warning, with very dangerous driving conditions and significant delays anticipated.
ScotRail has cancelled all services on Friday ahead of the storm’s arrival.
In the event of any power outages that affect you or somebody you know, call 105 for support from SSEN.
Stirling Council’s roads and land services teams will be closely monitoring the road network to remove any fallen debris, and the council is working alongside local and national resilience partnerships that have been stood up to respond to the situation.