Evacuation after winds bring down street light cables

Dec 24 2008 by Sandra Walls, Hamilton Advertiser

RESIDENTS in the Eddlewood area of Hamilton were evacuated from their houses on Sunday after high winds brought down street lighting cables and poles.

Live wires lay on William Drive and residents spent two hours away from their homes while emergency services and council staff made the area safe.

The road, on which poles supporting the cables had collapsed, was closed for more than four hours.

One of the timber columns smashed on to a car parked at the top of William Drive.

Fencing and hedgerows were also damaged.

John Carracher, (67), chairman of Eddlewood Tenants Association, has lived in William Drive with his wife Jean for 33 years.

He said: “The police taped off Jeanette Avenue and William Drive to prevent traffic from driving through.

“The street lights were out for hours on Sunday night and I saw council staff working on restoring the lighting.

“The timber poles have been standing since the scheme was built in the 1930s and are now rotting.

Mr Carracher says the association are currently awaiting a formal response from South Lanarkshire Council regarding the removal and upgrading of the poles.

He added: “There was significant damage to a neighbour’s car. By luck, no-one was injured.

“Rotting poles must be replaced with modern metal poles as soon as possible and any remaining poles should be checked to ensure they won’t fall on to passers-by during extreme weather conditions.”

A police spokesman said: “We can confirm that there was a report made at 5.40pm of a timber pole coming down, and another landing on top of a car.

“There were no injuries to members of the public.

“Scottish Power and council staff attended to make the area safe.

“Police carried out traffic control in the area and left at 10pm.”

A spokesman for Scottish Power said: “After a call from police, we attended William Drive to check wiring but no Scottish Power equipment was involved.

“Street lighting cables were lying on the street after timber poles had fallen, which are the responsibility of the local authority.”

A council spokesman said: “It would appear that extreme weather conditions on Sunday were to blame for the poles coming down.

“High winds can make these particular wooden columns unsafe.

“Our workers were on site to make the area safe.

“We have started a programme of replacing the wooden columns we inherited from Scottish Power and will continue with this where budgets allow.

“Wooden columns are checked every six months to ensure they are safe.”