Major roads across north Cumbria are clear, thanks to the efforts of gritters who have worked round the clock – but hundreds of people are still without power.
The major incident declared by police has been stood down.
Cumberland Council said since Wednesday last week, crews have treated and ploughed 2,530 miles, used 251 tonnes of salt and carried out 203 hours of continuous gritting travelling 3,230 miles.
All priority routes in north Cumbria are open, and gritters are now making their way around some of the smaller side roads where conditions remain challenging.
Teams are also supporting other partner agencies such as Electricity North West to gain access to areas where they have power outages.
As of this morning only the following roads on high ground remain closed:
- Cold Fell – Kirkland to Calder Bridge
- Hardnott Pass – Gubbergill to Cockley Beck Road
- Honister Pass – from Seatoller Village
- Hardnott Pass – Duddon Bridge, Hall Dunnerdae Road
- Corney Fell – Broad Oak at Beckfoot
The B5289 between Seatoller and Buttermere is also closed both ways.
The authority said: “Road surface temperatures are now starting to get above zero even at some of the higher-level sites which will encourage a steady thaw of the lying snow, slower where it has been compacted into dumps etc by the sides of roads.
“The main weather-related hazards for this week will be ice tomorrow night as temperatures will again dip below freezing widely across Cumbria.
“The council’s gritting crews will again be out in force treating the priority road network but the advice is to remain vigilant, plan ahead and take extra caution when driving, including driving more slowly than usual.”
Councillor Denise Rollo, Cumberland Council executive member for sustainable, resilient and connected places, said: “The drop in temperatures and difficult road conditions presents motorists with a number of issues that make drivers, cyclists and pedestrians more vulnerable.
“The council urges road users to plan ahead of their journey for delays and poor weather conditions, and supports the advice offered by motoring authorities such as the Institute of Advanced Motorists, RAC and Department for Transport. It is vital to ensure your vehicle is prepared for the winter and to be aware of slippery road surfaces as well as taking a supply of warm clothes and food on all journeys.
“Cumberland has some of the highest terrain and most challenging roads in the country. Our gritting team plays a vital role in keeping the county moving and are well prepared for whatever challenges the weather continues to bring this winter.
“It’s also very important that people exercise the same caution on treated routes as they do on non-treated roads – just because a road has been gritted doesn’t mean it is safe in sub-zero temperatures.”
Westmorland and Furness Council said: “By Sunday evening the area’s main priority routes were all deemed to be passable with care and our gritting teams are still out covering all priority 1 and 2 routes.
“Further freezing temperatures overnight mean conditions on the highways network are still difficult, especially on rural roads, many of which are still only passable with extreme care.
“All our highways teams are still out and are now trying to access the wider road network. Abandoned cars are still causing issues blocking access to some routes for agencies and gritters and snowploughs.
“Anyone who had to leave a vehicle at the weekend and who can safely do so is now asked to please move it if it is causing an obstruction, which will help our crews get through to clear more roads.
“Fifty-two members of staff and supporting partners and contractors helped within this initial effort and all available gritters and snow ploughs were deployed on the priority road network.
“Highways continued to increase resources and a further six heavy duty tractors, with ploughs, were deployed to some of the more difficult parts of the road network and we utilised our supply chain to provide six additional JCBs to accompany our gritters, to prevent losing these vital resources in areas with deep snow.
“In total 34 vehicles were involved in the response, including 20 gritters.”
A yellow weather warning for ice was removed at noon today, Monday but the Met Office is warning of temperatures falling below freezing Tuesday evening overnight into Wednesday.
The Household Waste Recycling Centre in Millom is temporarily closed today due to the poor weather in the area.
A recycling round in Millom has been suspended for today due to the icy/snowy road conditions. People are asked to continue to leave their recycling container out if it is in a safe place and does not hinder the snow clear up and crews will aim to get to people as soon as possible.
Waste and recycling collections in the South Lakeland area have also been suspended.
Household Waste Recycling Centres in Ulverston, Kendal and Ambleside are also temporarily closed today.
Please note that this suspension of today’s collections only affects rounds in the South Lakeland area of Westmorland and Furness. Services in the Barrow and Eden areas will be deployed as normal, although some rounds in these areas may still be subject to some disruption due to the snow and ice.
St John’s Hospice has cancelled its Light Up A Life event in Kendal due to the weather.
The event was due to be held at Kendal Parish Church this evening, Monday December 4, but it has been rescheduled for Monday, December 11.
For more information, visit St John’s Hospice website here
Cumbria’s chief fire officer Rick Ogden has praised his crews’ response over the weekend. He said: “Our firefighters had an exceptionally challenging weekend but, once again, rose to the challenge and worked tirelessly to help those in need.”
Among the many incidents Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service assisted were:
- 9pm on Saturday; a crew from Ambleside was mobilised in a 4×4 to collect and deliver bedding, and to assist the police in providing welfare in the local reception centre for over 200 members of the public
- 11pm on Saturday; at Ings, Kendal, a crew assisted North West Ambulance Service in a time-critical extraction from a stranded vehicle
- 2am on Sunday; on-call crews in 4×4 vehicles assisted the police with finding individuals in stranded vehicles in the Satterthwaite area
- On Sunday evening, the service assisted in transporting an engineer to a remote United Utilities plant to prevent loss of water to 400 homes
- Throughout the emergency, the service assisted United Utilities in delivering bottled water to areas without supply, and fire stations were used as collection points for water and emergency centres for responders
Over 35 schools closed on Monday due to the extreme weather conditions.
The following schools are due to reopen on Tuesday:
- Hawkshead Esthwaite primary
- Broughton C of E School, Broughton in Furness
- Ghyllside Primary, Kendal
- St Mark’s Primary, Kendal
- Our Lady of the Rosary, Kendal
- Vicarage Park, Kendal
- St Cuthbert’s, Windermere
- St Martin and St Mary, Windermere
- Coniston Primary School
- Langdale school, Ambleside
- Crosscrake, Kendal
- Dean Gibson, Kendal
- Ulverston Victoria High School
- The Lakes School, Windermere
- Kirbie Kendal School, Kendal
- Pennington school
- Staveley primary
- Croftlands Junior School, Ulverston
- St Bega’s, Holmrook
- St Thomas’s primary, Kendal
- Cartmel Priory school, Grange-over-Sands
- Old Hutton school, Kendal
- Ormsgill, Barrow
- Dowdales School, Dalton-in-Furness
- Parkview Nursery School, Millom
- Chapel Street infants, Dalton-in-Furness
- Burlington school, Kirkby-in-Furness
- Ambleside primary
- Millom infants
- Waberthwaite school
- Askam Village School, Askam-in-Furness
- Croftlands infants, Ulverston
- Dalton St Mary’s, Dalton-in-Furness
- George Romney, Dalton-in-Furness
- St Bernard’s High School, Barrow
- Heron Hill Primary School, Kendal
- Allithwaite school, Grange-over-Sands
- Cambridge Primary, Barrow
- Flookburgh primary
- Victoria infant, Barrow
- Sir John Barrow School
- Grayrigg school, Kendal
- St Paul’s junior, Barrow
- North Walney, Barrow
- Captain Shaw’s, Bootle
- Haverigg primary
- Chetwynde, Barrow
- Goodly Dale, Windermere
- Selside, Kendal
- St George’s Barrow
- Newbridge House PRU, Barrow
- Thwaites, Millom
- Newton Village Academy, Barrow
John Ruskin School, Coniston will reopen on Wednesday, December 6.
The list of schools is not exhaustive – please check with your child’s school.
Hundreds of people remain without power as engineers continue to repair damaged electricity lines across the county.
Superintendent Andy Wilkinson, of Cumbria Constabulary, said: “The multi-agency response into this major incident remains ongoing as collectively we do everything we can to support those who are face a further evening without power.
“I would encourage anyone who is without power and requires welfare support to contact Electricity North West on 105 or 0800 195 41 41.
Highways teams trying to clear roads in Cumbria were verbally abused by frustrated and stuck drivers on Saturday.
Cumbria police said yesterday that workers and others trying to support people affected by the snow had been subject to abuse.
Supt Wilkinson said: “We are aware of a number of incidents in which highway teams and those assisting in the efforts to support those affected by the snow have been verbally abused.
“We understand people’s frustration during this time; however, agencies are working hard to improve the situation in Cumbria and are also facing the challenging road conditions when responding.
“The snow ended up being much more significant than forecast and the amber warning that was put in place yesterday afternoon was in place until midnight and, with a yellow warning from snow and ice today, we expect to continue to see challenging road conditions.”
The A595 between Gosforth and Calderbridge was unpassable in both directions for most of yesterday morning, with drivers getting stuck and a local farmer even arrived in a tractor loaded with grit to help get drivers moving.
Latest road information
A Cumbria Crack reader tells us that the Melbreak roundabout, on the A66 from Workington to Cockermouth, has black ice on the approach from Workington.
- A5093 between Millom and Hallthwaites is impassable.
- Kirkstone Pass is closed on both sides to traffic.
- A591 at Kendal just passable
- A595 Whicham just passable
Power cuts
Electricity North West has brought in a helicopter to help identify damage as its engineers battle horrendous conditions to restore power to thousands of its customers across Cumbria.
Heavy snow has caused widespread disruption across the county and yesterday evening, a major incident was declared by police.
Cumbria’s power network has been severely impacted with more than 20 separate damages to the network reported.
While engineers have been able to restore power to many properties by reconfiguring the network remotely, some customers will be off for longer until engineers can reach affected sites and carry out physical repairs.
Teams of engineers, who have already restored supplies to nearly 5,000 customers, are working to restore power as quickly and as safely as possible to just over 2,000 properties.
Access issues are a major problem, Electricity North West said, with many roads impassable and only specialist 4×4 vehicles can currently be used.
Areas affected are:
- Over Staveley – 101 properties
- Windermere – 12 properties
- Egton with Newland, South Lakeland – 4 properties
- Lowick, South Lakeland – 22 properties
Emergency refuge centres
Emergency refuge centres were set up in towns and villages across the worst hit areas.
Around 100 people stayed in Esthwaite School’s sports hall overnight after becoming stranded. The local chippy has provided them with meals and the stranded slept on gym mats. People are still there, waiting for the snow to clear. Bacon rolls and cereal have been provided by local people and a cafe.
And over 120 people were at Ambleside Parish Centre. One of the volunteers said townsfolk had been bringing blankets and sleeping bags on sledges, and the community rallied round to help. People were provided with hot drinks and meals.