The armed forces have been called in after police in Lincolnshire were inundated with appeals for help from people struggling to cope with more heavy overnight snowfall as Storm Emma and the “beast from the east” bear down on the UK.
With hundreds of drivers stranded in their cars for up to 13 hours in Scotland, forecasters extended a red alert to parts of Wales, including Cardiff, and south-west England on Thursday morning, warning of the dangers the wind and snow could pose. A red alert for snow had already been in place in central Scotland.
And the National Grid warned that the UK would not have enough gas to meet demand on Thursday.
In Lincolnshire, police asked the Ministry of Defence to send help as the county continued to be hit hard. A critical incident was declared after reports of dozens of traffic incidents.
“At about lunchtime yesterday, we realised we were overrun with requests from the 82 volunteers that we had out. And, at that point, we made the request to central government for military assistance,” said Lincolnshire’s deputy chief constable, Craig Naylor.
He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “Thankfully, our military as usual have come to our aid. So we have military officers and troops on the ground with four-wheel-drive vehicles assisting our volunteers again today.”
Naylor said military personnel were helping those who were housebound or who needed medical assistance. The MoD said: “The RAF is assisting in helping to transport health staff to hospitals and support health workers in visiting vulnerable people in the community in Lincolnshire following heavy snowfall.”
A red alert of snow – the most severe – was issued across central Scotland on Wednesday and was due to remain in effect on Thursday. Overnight, drivers were stranded on the M80 after traffic came to a standstill on Wednesday afternoon.
Police said an estimated 1,000 vehicles were stranded, with tailbacks of approximately eight miles (13km) both northbound and southbound.
Some motorists spent the night in their cars, while others abandoned their vehicles. Emergency responders and volunteer agencies including mountain rescue teams checked on stranded drivers.
Graeme Murray left Aberdeen at 2.45pm on Wednesday. Speaking at about 10pm, he said: “Everything was going well until just after Gleneagles, then we hit the traffic jam at 5.05pm and have been here ever since.
“We have no idea what’s happening, we’re just getting messages from home. I think we’re going to get ready to spend the night here.”
Police were advising people not to travel on Thursday, except emergency workers. Supt Helen Harrison of Police Scotland said: “We are now 24 hours into the red- and amber-related advice not to travel on the roads and rush hour last night was noticeably less busy thanks to people heeding our message. It remains the same this rush hour coming: do not travel.”
Other major routes also faced disruption, with reports of minor accidents on some roads.
Hundreds of Scottish schools were closed for a second day on Thursday. Flights were also grounded, with Glasgow airport announcing it would be closed until 3pm on Thursday. The extreme weather also saw NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde cancel all non-essential operations and outpatient appointments on Thursday.
Virgin Trains closed all its routes to and from Scotland for the day, while ScotRail halted all operations in the affected red area until late morning. Bus operators in central regions reported disruptions would likely continue on Thursday.
