The City of Edinburgh Council staff have been working flat out today as high winds hit the capital.
Street cleaning, grounds maintenance, neighbourhood teams, forestry and roads services were all out during the day dealing with storm-related damage and debris.
This included dealing with fallen trees, branches and communal bins which may have been blown over. Private contractors were also brought in to help with clearing trees and branches.
Tomorrow, Council staff will continue to prioritise the clearing of any high wind damage, including fallen trees where necessary.
The Christmas Market in the city centre was closed this morning but reopened at 2pm with the Big Wheel and the Star Flyer opening shortly afterwards. Both the Nelson and Scott Monuments were closed today.
All schools remained open except St Mary’s RC Primary School in East London Street which shut at lunchtime because of roof damage. The school will remain closed tomorrow. There were also several local road closures due to fallen trees.
It is too early to put a cost to the storm damage and the number of trees which have fallen, as work is still ongoing.
Winds started to ease at lunchtime and there currently no severe weather warnings in place for Edinburgh. There is however a flood warning for Portobello Esplanade for the early hours of tomorrow morning.
Councillor Lesley Hinds, Environment Leader, said: “The Council has contingency plans in place to deal with high winds and severe weather. A big ‘thank you’ goes out to all the staff who were working hard, battling the elements to keep the city running. We will continue to work flat out to clean up the all debris and damage from the high winds.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
