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Waterford City and County Council is beginning to work towards recovery following the severe weather which was experienced in the City and County over the past week.

This snow storm is the most severe experienced in Waterford since 1962 with falls well in excess of 300mms and drifting in some places in excess of 2m. The entire coastal area of Waterford was particularly badly affected by the extreme levels of snowfall and drifting with many of the local roads remaining inaccessible.

The snow ploughing and gritting crews of Waterford City and County Council are still working at full capacity to get the county back to work however there is a considerable amount of work yet to be done.

Huge progress has been made today and all national routes are passable and most regional routes are now passable or expect to be so in the next few hours. The focus will then move to clearing local roads and housing estates in and around the county with particular attention to those areas of isolation where emergency access would remain an issue.

Due to the scale of the snowfall and extent of drifting, the Council is requesting assistance from the public with the following:

1. Clearing snow from footpaths in front of their premises, in urban areas

2. Clearing snow from roads and footpaths in housing estates

3. People with equipment such as high-power tractors with loading shovels to assist in clearing snow drifts from local roads

The Severe Weather Management Team has continued to meet throughout the severe weather event and is now engaging in planning for recovery over the coming days. We urge the public to stay off the roads as there are continued risks associated with unnecessary journeys. Our phone lines 0761 102020 are being answered and only emergencies are being processed for now and we expect it will remain so until Monday morning at the very earliest.

Waterford City and County Council would like to commend the emergency crews for the commitment over the past 72 and also to WLR FM and RTE News for getting our public services messages out. Please keep in touch on our social media channels and on our website for ongoing updates.

The Council has crews deployed working on roads throughout the City and County and will continue to do so over the coming days. The roads below are currently passable with extreme caution and care and we will update further progress on roads as they become open and passable.

We urge motorists not to take unnecessary journeys.

Dungarvan/Lismore District

• Cars can access Villierstown, Aglish & Clashmore, and Ring with caution.
• Crews working on Regional roads to Ardmore and Sean Phobail R674.
• Crews working on R680 to clear road from Clonmel to Carrick.
• Youghal to Tallow Road is open and passable with care.
• Vee Road from Lismore to Clogheen not passable and to be avoided until further notice.

Comeragh District
The following roads passable, most one lane, slush on road remaining.

• R677 McGraths Cross to Kilmacthomas
• R677 Griffins Garage to Stradbally
• R671 Beehive near Ballymacarbry to Clonmel
• R677 Hickeys Fabrication to Ballylaneen/Kilmacthomas to Seafield
• R681 Kilmeaden to Ballyleen Cross Roads
• R680 Kilmeaden to Carrick-on- Suir ?
• R671/R672 Dungarvan to Clonmel
• R675 Coast Road – crews working on clearing this – Section from Coast Road from Ballyvoile towards Kilmurrin is passable with caution.
• R676 Lemybrien to Carrick-on- Suir is passable with caution.
• L3029 from Griffins Garage towards Stradbally Village is passable.

Metropolitan District

• Metro East – Woodstown/Passage East/Dunmore/Woodstown roads impassable at present
• Crews working on roads in and around Cheekpoint.
• R683 Passage East- roads passable with caution
• R684 Dunmore East roads passable with caution

Metro West – Tramore

• Salting ongoing in Tramore and most access roads into Tramore passable.
• R675 Waterford to Tramore Road passable

Metro – City

The following main access roads in and out of the City are passable with caution.

• Williamstown Road
• Outer Ring Road
• Dunmore Road
• The Quays
• The Mall
• Tramore Road
• Ballytruckle
• The Folly, Kilbarry
• Old Kilmeaden Road
• Carrickphierish Road

Waterford City and County Council convened a meeting of the Severe Weather Management team on 03.03.2018 at 8:30am and the situation is as follows;

The Roads Crews are prioritising the ongoing clearing of the national primary routes; the N25 is passable throughout the county but extreme caution is needed. Crews are currently clearing the N72 and maintaining clearance on the city access routes; The Quay and the Outer and Inner Ring Roads.

As soon as the national routes are in a passable condition priority will be given to the regional roads for access to the larger towns; Dunmore East, Tramore, Coast Road etc. Access to Ardmore continues to be worked on and the crews are aiming for clearance by this afternoon.  Access to Carrick on Suir and Ballymacarbery is largely limited to 4×4 vehicles. Waterford Council is aiming to improve access to these areas throughout the afternoon.

Access on local roads and within housing estates and attention to the clearing of footpaths is dependent on the access being maintained on primary and regional routes and is most likely to begin tomorrow (Sunday) or Monday.

Our phonelines are open from 9:00am – 13:00pm and are manned by Council staff during this period.  0761 102020.

A “Status Orange (Snow and Ice)” warning is now in effect for #Waterford until 9am tomorrow morning (Saturday 3rd).

However, a “Status Red (Snow and Ice)” warning remains for counties Kilkenny and Wexford for the same time period and weather from these areas can obviously effect eastern Waterford.

We would again appeal to motorists to keep off the roads to allow our crews a chance to plough and grit our priority routes.  Crews will continue clearances up until late tonight and will resume early in the morning.  We ask for your patience and understanding while we clear the snow and other debris from what has been an unprecedented amount of snowfall across the City and County.

SEVERE WEATHER EVENT – UPDATE
Friday 2nd March, 9:45am
#BeastFromTheEast #StormEmma

SEVERE WEATHER MANAGEMENT TEAM
The SWMT met again this morning by conference call, and will remain in contact throughout the next 12-24 hours.  Further updates will issue throughout the day.

CURRENT SITUATION
Heavy snowfall persists throughout Waterford this morning, with up to 6-8cm having accumulated through the night.  Heavy snow (drifting in parts) and ice persists on the ground.

A “Status Red” weather alert (Snow) for Munster remains in place and is valid  until 6pm this evening (Friday).   However, the “remain indoors” advisory has now been lifted.

GRITTING & CLEARING OF ROADS
The Council is recommencing the deployment of snow ploughing and gritting operations from 8am this morning (Friday) and will be focused on the national roads, City Outer Ring to the Hospital and other key routes initially.

Due to the on-going poor weather conditions this first phase is likely to take a number of hours to complete and the Council would hope to extend these operations to the wider regional road network as the day progresses and if weather conditions improve.

There are significant amounts of snow on all roads across the County with drifting of up to 2 meters reported in areas. Driving conditions will remain extremely hazardous for the remainder of the day and people are advised not to travel.

• Our gritting routes and their priorities can be seen on the attached map. 
• Incidents relating to Storm Emma can also now be tracked via a map on our website.

OFFICE CLOSURES
All Waterford City & County Council Public Offices (including libraries) are closed and will remain so until Monday 5th March.

Waterford Council’s main number is now manned by our Out of Hours service which will continue to take calls on 0761 10 2020.  For exceptional emergencies, or those not relating to Council activities, please call the National Emergency Services on 999 or 112.

KEEP INFORMED
We use the MapAlerter service to alert subscribers to events of note, and specifically weather alerts.  Sign up to receive FREE SMS alerts at MapAlerter.com
All our alerts are syndicated on our social media channels and on our dedicated severe weather website – www.waterfordweatheralerts.com

SEVERE WEATHER EVENT – UPDATE
Thursday 1st March, 11:15am
#BeastFromTheEast #StormEmma

CURRENT SITUATION
There has been heavy snowfall overnight, with many areas of Waterford experiencing heavier falls and accumulations.  Snowfall has been persistent throughout the morning.  Snow and ice persists on the ground in Waterford.

A “Status Red“ weather alert (Snow, Ice & Wind) for all of Ireland has now issued and is valid from now until 3pm tomorrow (Friday).   Blizzard like conditions will likely develop later this afternoon as the two weather systems come together.   The National Emergency Coordination Committee has asked everybody in Munster and Leinster to be indoors by 4pm today (Thursday) and to remain there until at least midday on Friday, 2nd March.

The NRA are reporting that the motorway network remains open but extreme caution is advised – the optimum advice is not to travel.

OFFICE CLOSURES
All Waterford City & County Council Public Offices (including libraries) are now closed and will remain so until Monday 5th March.

The Customer Care Desk will take calls up to midday today and
then all emergency calls will be handled by our out of hours service.  This will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, as resources and weather permits.

Waterford Council’s main number (and Out-Of-Hours number) is 0761 10 2020.  For exceptional emergencies, or those not relating to Council activities, please call the National Emergency Services on 999 or 112.

GRITTING ROUTES
Our gritting routes and their priorities can be seen on the attached map.  Roads crews will continue to grit Priority 1 routes only for as long as it is safe to
do so today.

TOMORROW, FRIDAY 2nd MARCH & THE COMING WEEKEND

Friday 2nd March, 2018
Snow clearance and gritting for Friday will commence immediately once
weather conditions allow. Crews will be re-mobilised when it is safe to do so.
Emergency calls will be handled by our out of hours service – phone number
0761 10 20 20.

Weekend 3rd & 4th March 2018
Weather conditions will be monitored continuously over the weekend and
essential crews will be re-mobilised to grit priority routes as required and when
safe to do so. All emergency calls will be handled by our out of hours service
over the weekend – phone number 0761 10 20 20.

People are advised to avoid all unnecessary journeys and stay indoors while
the red weather alert is in place.

KEEP INFORMED
We use the MapAlerter service to alert subscribers to events of note, and specifically weather alerts.  Sign up to receive FREE SMS alerts at MapAlerter.com
All our alerts are syndicated on our social media channels and on our dedicated severe weather website – www.waterfordweatheralerts.com

Met Éireann have now extended the “Status Red (Snow & Ice)” warning extended nationwide.   That advisory is valid from now until to Friday 02 March 2018 at 3pm.

Approx. 2-3cm of snow has accumulated in Waterford overnight and in line with the National Emergency Coordination Group, we advise citizens not to make any unnecessary journeys.   The National Emergency Coordination Committee has also asked everybody in Munster and Leinster to be indoors by 4pm today (Thursday) and to remain there until at least midday on Friday.