Stevenage Borough Council’s response to Storm Eunice
On Friday 18 February, the Met Office upgraded their weather warning, which covered Stevenage and most of the south east of England, to Red - the most severe warning possible, indicating significant disruption and dangerous conditions to be expected.
The council was prepared and on high alert to respond to any situation that arose. On Friday alone the following reports came in:
- A collapsed chimney
- Over 70 fences down
- More than 50 trees down
- Garage roof blown off
- Depot gates blown off
Many more reports are continuing to come in to the council’s customer service centre this week. As well as teams dealing with the above, the council also carried on, as best it could, with the business as usual services including the bin collections and the Neighbourhood Wardens who work across the town.
Cllr Sharon Taylor, Leader of Stevenage Borough Council, said: “We realise what a difficult time many of our residents and businesses would have had as we dealt with the storms and their aftermath. I am so proud of our team’s response and grateful for their efforts working solidly from the early hours on Friday and throughout the weekend, keeping our residents safe during and after.
“We have had upwards of 120 reports for repairs on Friday alone and we are doing our best to work through the issues our residents have notified us of.
“A major clear up operation was put in place to deal with the aftermath of the storms – teams were out clearing trees all with the possibility of the winds picking up yet again.
“I’d like to thank everyone that went the extra mile during and after the storms.”
In light of both the high volume of reports and the related works which needs to be undertaken, it will take some time to complete every single request. Residents have been asked to bear with the council in the coming days while they address all reported issues. If you have already reported an issue to the council, it would have been logged and you do not need to report it again. If you need to report a new issue, please visit stevenage.gov.uk and log it online.