Storm Eunice has been declared a major incident by the Avon and Somerset Local Resilience Forum due to the potential for severe disruption.
A red weather warning has been issued by the Met Office for extremely strong winds between 7am and midday on Friday 18 February for coastal areas of Somerset with an amber warning for strong winds issued for South Somerset and other parts of the South West between 5am and 9pm.
The storm has the potential to cause significant disruption and dangerous conditions along the length of the west coast of Somerset through the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary into Gloucestershire.
The Environment Agency has issued a flood warning for Severn Beach and flood alerts for Porlock Weir, along the Severn between Avonmouth and Sharpness and along the Avon into Bristol. You can check your area’s risk of flooding on their website.
What actions are we advising?
For your safety, please avoid travelling on Friday morning wherever possible and to follow weather and travel bulletins on local radio or check on local media websites.
Somerset County Council has also recommended that all schools, early years settings and colleges will be closed on Friday 18 February.
Our offices, including Petters, will be closed while sites such as Ninesprings Café and Cartgate Tourist Information Centre will also close. We are asking residents to please avoid visiting our countryside sites. The scheduled performance tomorrow evening at the Octagon Theatre has also been postponed.
Somerset Waste Partnership is suspending all tomorrow’s waste collections – recycling, rubbish, garden waste, clinical and bulky.
It will also be closing the ten recycling sites scheduled to be open tomorrow (Yeovil, Frome, Taunton, Minehead, Poole (Wellington), Bridgwater, Highbridge, Dulcote, Chard and Somerton).
Emergency services, local authorities, National Highways and other voluntary and statutory agencies are on stand-by to put well-rehearsed plans into place.
We are advising the public that they can report trees fallen into a major road to National Highways by calling 0300 123 5000 and on local roads to Somerset County Council using the following link
https://www.somerset.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/report-a-problem-on-the-road/
We are also advising residents to please call 999 if there is an immediate risk to safety such as a fallen live power cable.