Redouble stay at home efforts in light of worsening weather forecasts, council urges
MORAY Council is urging residents to redouble their stay-at-home efforts in light of worsening weather forecasts.
In-line with Scottish Government lockdown guidance, all but essential journeys are not permitted, and with yellow and amber weather warnings issued by the Met Office for snow, Moray Council’s gritting crews will be making the roads as safe as possible for essential travel.
The Met Office’s yellow weather warning is already in effect for much of Moray, but conditions are expected to deteriorate and an amber warning covers almost the entire region from midnight tonight (Thursday) until 6pm on Saturday.
According to the Met Office, snow will become persistent and heavy, and could lead to some significant disruption to travel and utilities.
Conditions are already challenging in some parts of Moray, particularly in rural areas such as Glenlivet, Tomnavoulin and Bluefolds, where drifting snow is making some roads impassable.
Moray Council’s Roads Maintenance Manager, Mark Atherton, is urging residents to consider if their journeys are essential and, if not, to stay at home.
“Our focus has to be on keeping the roads clear for essential and emergency journeys. Road conditions can deteriorate quickly in adverse weather; motorists can get stuck, causing obstructions for our ploughs and gritters which will hamper our efforts to keep lifeline roads open to communities and for our already busy emergency services.
“We will be hard at work monitoring the weather conditions and co-ordinating our crews to areas where there is the greatest need. We are also grateful to those who volunteer to help with snow-clearing efforts, such as our farming community.
“If you do have to travel we have interactive gritting maps, maps of grit bins and explanations of our priority routes all available on our website to help plan your route, but staying at home for all but essential purposes is the ask of our residents.”