Further to the Met Office amber weather warning, of high winds, https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-warnings#?date=2024-01-02&id=3eab15b0-c391-4c02-a22e-549a1f52b70awe, which was upgraded earlier today, our contractor has been dealing with a number of tree emergencies today.
Amber weather warnings are the second highest category of warning in terms of severity and are both serious and relatively unusual – whilst the weather warning remains in place currently until 8pm tonight, we understand the worst of the winds are forecast for around 4pm.
In any case, our contractor will remain on standby, to deal with emergencies as they arise, prioritising accordingly. To help with prioritising, we have publicly asked for anyone reporting a tree emergency, ie a blocked road etc, to call so this can be prioritised accordingly. See twitter https://twitter.com/LBofBromley/status/1742214380597465596 as an example.
Our tree team are ordinarily on call and if they become pressed, then the tree will be removed from the road or made safe etc and properly tidied afterwards, which is our standard practice in this type of weather incident. Our street cleaning teams will need to support this work and clear debris from streets in the coming days as quickly and smoothly as possible. Residents can of course use the report function on our website in the usual way if needed https://www.bromley.gov.uk/report, with advice our tree reporting specifically on our website via https://www.bromley.gov.uk/trees/report-tree-problem.
Often in these ‘high wind’ incidents, then a lot of the fallen trees will not be owned by the council and will have fallen onto the road etc from privately owned land, such a resident’s garden etc. In these scenarios, we will look to clear the obstruction and recover costs in due course, which is often a home insurance claim.
We will be reviewing the effects of these latest high winds in due course but there have been a number of high wind ‘incidents’ over the festive holiday period, with around 80 emergency call outs in total so far, with 30 of these being earlier this afternoon.
Please be safe
Cllr Mike Jack
Cllr Mark Smith
Cllr Alison Stammers
