Published on:
18
August 2003
More than fifty council staff came to work on Saturday in response to the burst water mains near Lornshill Academy which left 25,000 residents without water.
Staff from across all council services including roads, education and social work responded to calls from the Council's emergency planning officer to assist Scottish Water during the incident.
At 4.30am the Council's Roads Unit and Scottish Water assessed the situation, starting contingency plans to resolve the problem.
In addition to the Scottish Water helpline, the Council also set up its own helpline which responded to several thousand calls from local people. Staff were able to update callers on the current situation and pass on information from Scottish water about water bottle distribution points.
By 10am the Council had carried out a number of actions. They included:· An assessment of vulnerable groups· The setting up an evacuation centre at the Devonvale Hall in Tillicoultry· The setting up of a helpline staffed by a number of council employees·A number of council vehicles on standby to assist with the distribution of bottled water·Two mini buses on standby to transport vulnerable people if required·A Scottish Water emergency planning manager located at Limetree House.
Bill Gault, Emergency Planning Officer said: "Our emergency planning procedures kicked into action as soon as we were informed of the situation. We carry out regular exercises to help prepare us for a variety of emergency situations and on Saturday we were able to test our procedures during a real crisis.
"On the whole our procedures stood up well and a full debrief will take place this week.
"I would like to thank the council staff who gave up their Saturday to assist during the emergency, some of whom worked from the early hours through until 7pm."
A Council debrief will take place on Tuesday (19 August) afternoon which will look closely at the council's response during an emergency situation.