Red Alert
Weather warnings have been issued by the Met Office following the arrival of severe weather in Somerset. Severe weather warnings have been issued and the police are advising people affected by the significant snowfall to stay at home and don’t travel.
The Met Office has issued a RED warning wind and snow for parts of Somerset – including a stretch of the M5 motorway between Taunton and Exeter – and AMBER warnings for wind and snow for other parts of our Avon & Somerset Policeforce area.
The RED warning runs from 3pm today until 2am tomorrow and the AMBER runs from 2pm today until 8am tomorrow. You can check the latest update at the Met Office’s official website – http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast
This means there could be significant disruption to the road network and conditions will be dangerous. If you are in the RED area please don’t travel. If you are in the AMBER area, please consider whether your journey is necessary.
If you have to travel, make sure you take provisions including warm clothing and ideally a sleeping bag too in case you are stranded and be aware of any issues on the road network. Before you travel please check the Highways England website – http://www.highways.gov.uk/traffic-information/
For the latest road conditions in Somerset you can try the Travel Somerset website – http://www.travelsomerset.co.uk
Chief Superintendant Ian Wylie is leading the police response to the bad weather “Our message to people living in areas affected by heavy snowfall is clear. Please don’t make any unnecessary journeys and play close attention to the latest forecasts and weather warnings. The conditions are likely to be treacherous. Long delays and public transport cancellations are likely. We don’t want anyone to be at risk, or stuck in their vehicles, so please heed the warnings.”
Please only call 999 for genuine emergencies.
Police are expecting high volumes of calls to the 101 number and would urge people to carefully consider whether their call needs a police response. Routine calls should, if possible, be delayed until the weather conditions improve.