Over recent weeks West Dunbartonshire has suffered from severe storm damage costing hundreds of thousands of pounds and has submitted a claim to the Scottish Government Bellwin scheme to help support the exceptional costs. On 28^th November 2011 and 2 January 2012 the area was subjected to severe weather events across Scotland. Both of these events hit the West Dunbartonshire area hard impacting on the delivery of Council services, and increased the demand on the councils emergency and contingency services. Leven Councillor John Millar said: The Council staff have done a fantastic amount of work both in dealing with the emergencies and in the clear up after the storms. The feedback I have received from my constituents about this has been absolutely fantastic.’ A breakdown of some of the key issues and costs is set out below:  

Waste Services: A full waste collection service was scheduled for Tuesday 3 January 2012. Collection operations were halted for around 2 hours from 08.00am to 10.00am when wind speeds were at their highest. Operations resumed thereafter with approximately 95% of the collections scheduled for the day completed. The outstanding collections from Tuesday 6 January 2012 were completed over the next two days. Because of the storm and the likelihood that householders will be placing storm debris and detritus from their homes and gardens into their wheeled bins, the amnesty which was applied during Christmas and New Year weeks, on uplifting excess waste and emptying bins with bin lids that will not close due to overfilling, has been extended to Friday 13 January 2012.  

Roads: On 28^th November Knowle Burn breached causing flooding to residential properties within Round Riding Road and Netherbog Avenue. Ongoing flood prevention scheme due to commence May 2012 will address this issue in future. Gruggies burn and Scottish water drainage systems breached causing considerable damage to properties within Dumbarton East. Dumbarton High Street car parks flooded. The promotion of a Gruggies Burn Flood prevention scheme and the River Clyde/Leven prevention schemes will require to be developed to address this issue in the future. C Class Road network Gartocharn badly affected, Gallangad Bridge destroyed, temporary access currently provided to 7 affected properties via private farm track which has been upgraded to facilitate access. Anticipated replacement cost £300,000. Various culverts still blocked on C Class road network, anticipated cost approx £5,000 to clear. Various culverts blocked throughout Dumbarton and Clydebank, cost of clearance to date approx £50,000.  

Storm Wind – mid December 2011: Surge tide forecast, precautionary works undertaken to protect vulnerable properties – no impact on residential properties. Riverside car parks flooded, approx 5 cars damaged as a result of water ingress. Many trees blown down but all cleared with no significant impact.  

Storm Winds – January 2012: Winter maintenance standby crews operational outwith normal operating hours during this period. A811 Gartocharn Road and Renton Road subjected to flooding as a result of debris on roads. All roads now cleared. Many roads affected by fallen trees – all now cleared. A number of Street Lighting columns had also been damaged & were currently being made safe. Discussions will be required with adjoining land owners regarding condition of trees, however in this instance it was compounded by the saturated ground conditions. Significant damage to flood defence bund on River Leven at Dumbarton golf course as a result of high tide and severe wave action. Anticipated repair/strengthening cost approx £300,000. A study of the river flow pattern will require to be undertaken to inform what strengthening works are required to address the ongoing damage to the river defence system. River defence revetment walls at Dumbarton Castle and associated footpaths/fencing damaged. Anticipated repair cost £50,000. Localized street lighting outages as a result of lanterns being blown off, water ingress to cabling. All currently being repaired through term maintenance contract. Centre of Dumbarton and Carrochan Roundabout, Balloch worst affected.  

Greenspace: General open space land and housing gardens – approx. 700 trees district wide felled. In addition to this specific areas include:

Parks: Balloch Park – over 100 mature trees felled, numerous branches hung up. Christie Park – 12 large trees felled. Levengrove Park – 10 mature trees felled. Dalmuir Park – 6 mature trees felled. Overtoun, Auchnacraig and Auchentoshan Country estates – estimated over 100 mature trees felled with numerous paths blocked or damaged.

Cemeteries: Vale of Leven Cemetery – 40 large trees felled, 50 headstones down. Dumbarton Cemetery – 30 large trees felled, 40 hung up trees require felling, 30 headstones to be reset. Clydebank Cemeteries – 28 large trees felled, 45 headstones down. Extensive damage to shore walkway between Levengrove and Havoc. Work commenced on Thursday 12 January to start to clear the shore walkway and make safe the route for pedestrians. Costs for the final repair will be available later. In the days immediately following the storm all resources were targeted at safety issues. This has resulted in a backlog of our street cleaning operation. To date 3,791 man hours have been spent on clean up (this equates to an additional £80,000 in salary costs at this time).  It is estimated that it will take 6 – 8 weeks to carry out the majority of the clean up. In addition to our own in-house teams we are recruiting contractors with specialist equipment to deal specifically with the removal of large trees, path and walkway reinstatement and other minor damage that cannot be dealt with through our own staff. This will cost approximately £150,000.

Facilities Management: In summary there was major damage to a few schools as per updates below and minor damage to most others. There was close liaison with the Director of Education on 3/4/5/6 January and emergency repair work was undertaken as speedily as possible to ensure that all schools could be fully operational on Monday for children returning. Costs for repairs have not yet been fully identified.

Our Lady and St. Patrick’s High – Large area of felt roof off two classrooms on 6^th floor. Installation of visqueen sheeting within these two classrooms and round the clock efforts from Janitors, Education staff and Property Co-ordinator from 4 January contained much of the incoming rain until temporary repairs could be affected over the weekend and into this week. Temporary repairs are almost complete however permanent repair requires to be programmed. 

Whitecrook Primary – Water ingress in stairwell to Cunard Centre due to roof damage. Temporary roof works have been carried out however permanent repair requires to be programmed.

Braehead Primary – Felt off sections of roof. Temporary repairs cannot commence until scaffolding is available which should be sometime later this week thereafter permanent repair requires to be programmed.

Dalreoch Primary – Large area of felt off roof of P1, 2 & 3 classrooms. Temporary repairs are presently ongoing and children have been decanted to alternative classes. Permanent repairs require to be scheduled.

Kilpatrick School – Structural repairs have commenced to gym hall roof.  Gym hall presently closed to pupils.

Dumbarton Academy – External wall to gym hall damaged casing water penetration and electrical problems. Contractor is presently engaged to rebuild wall. Gym presently closed to pupils.

Clydebank Town Hall - Some dislodged ridge tiles and slates, impact damage to new rendering, damage to gate and block paving in service yard, broken window. Damage has been notified to Clark Contracts who are presently responsible for premises however may be subject to an Insurance Claim (Storm Damage Insurance remains responsibility of Council).

General – Slates and ridge tiles missing from roofs on a number of properties, fallen trees, broken windows, etc.

Repairs and Maintenance: The current position is as follows: 

• 1300 emergency repairs orders raised and completed throughout the district, obviously short term solution.
• 0 emergency repairs outstanding
• All back office ciboodle referrals cleared from the corporate contact centre (overflow from repairs contact centre).   
• 210 permanent roof repairs completed to date, permanent solution.
• 1451 reinstatement repairs raised to date; although this figure is expected to increase significantly over the duration of the next few weeks when all follow up works have been input/follow up audits are complete

Known housing properties significantly damaged by the storm: 

• Clydeholm Terrace, Clydebank – roof blown off, scaffold erection completed and passed safe for use, all debris removed from site, area secured by heras fencing, await consultancy services providing recommendations for temporary repairs to make watertight and specification/drawings for roof renewal.
• Edmonstone Court, Clydebank – over cladding and glazing severally damaged by flying debris from Clydeholm terrace.
• Yokerburn Terrace, Clydebank – roof, gutters, fascia, soffits and windows damaged by flying debris from Clydeholm terrace.  
• Gavins Road, Clydebank – entire flat roof structure blown off front of property, felt and insulation from the rest of the building, debris cleared from site, consultancy service attended site and are preparing specification to reinstate roof, scaffold erection commenced Monday 09/01/12, property still to be made watertight after scaffold erected.
• Stark Avenue, Clydebank – felt, insulation, decking blown off property, contractor engaged to reinstate decking and felt, scaffold erection commenced Monday 09/01/12, property still to be made watertight after scaffold erected.
• Montrose Street, Clydebank – metal roofs blown off completely or practically from buildings; loose sections of metal roof materials re-secured, temporary tarpaulins fitted to try to keep watertight, quotations requested and awaited from specialist companies to renew roofs.      
• Mossgiel Drive, Clydebank – metal roof damaged, temporary repairs completed, awaiting repair costs.
• Scott Avenue, Bowling – flat roof covering blown off, contractor engaged to reinstate, awaiting costs. 
• Milton Estate, Alexandria – flat roof covering blown off, contractor engaged to reinstate, costs received and contractor given go-ahead, commencing scaffold erection on 12/01/11, expected to take up to 6 week to completed, should be watertight within 2 weeks.  
• Cumbrae Crescent South, Dumbarton – roof blown off, temporary repairs carried out.
• Halkett Crescent, Alexandria – roof blown off, temporary repairs carried out.
• Various lockup/garage site – damaged flat roofs, all debris cleared from known site.
• Extensive damage has occurred to many roofs throughout West Dunbartonshire but far too many to list.
• Debris cleared from all main known storm damaged sites.                  

Public Buildings:

• 6 schools required flat roofing repairs to be completed last week ref Facilities Management Update above
• All other public building operational although damage has been sustained to many.

Asset Management: Since last Thursday, the Councils Structural Engineer has assessed 3 badly damaged roofs in the Clydebank area and provided advice on short term measures to make the properties safe, wind and watertight. The following schools reported storm damage (in addition to the above under facilities management):- 

1.   Linnvale Primary School – roof damage, water penetration. 

2.   Gavinburn Primary School – fallen tree causing slight roof damage & damage to gutters, retaining wall at car park seems to be damaged. 

3.   St Mary’s Primary School, Alexandria – roof damage. 

4.   Carleith Primary School – fallen tree causing damage to fence, roof damage & water penetration. 

5.   Christie Park Primary School – roof damage, water penetration.