Horseshoe Pass rescue drama

The Leader is reporting today how rescue workers battled for hours to reach an elderly couple who had been poisoned by carbon monoxide at their remote farm on the Horseshoe Pass.

See the full story at http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/121172/couple-poisoned-in-farm-snow-drift.aspx  

Railway battles to be open in time for Friday

 

 

* The scene at Llangollen station on Tuesday as work got underway to clear the station driveway of snow.

Heavy snow fall in the Dee Valley has presented the Llangollen Railway with a major challenge to be back in operation by Good Friday.

 

The snowfall last Friday and Saturday caused train services to be suspended over the weekend and no trains have been able to run so far this week when daily train services were scheduled for the school holiday period.

 

With platforms and the railway track piled high with snow in places the need to begin clearance work is being tackled by full time railway staff and volunteers starting at Llangollen station.

 

George Jones, for Llangollen Railway, said: "With no thaw in sight the need is for spade work to clear the public access to stations and platforms, as well as to clear the points and lineside mechanical equipment to allow trains to operate.

 

"The depth of the snow in places has not been seen for many years and it will require a tremendous effort to reopen the line in time for Easter.

 

"If we do succeed in running steam trains along the line to Carrog it is likely visitors to the Railway will have a momentous trip into a winter wonderland where near alpine conditions exist in this part of North Wales."

Marvellous readers' pictures

Another reader, Susan Stokes, has just posted this fabulous picture on our Facebook page, and it's so good we're including it on our main blogsite.

Reader Kathy Davies has sent a selection of pictures showing Llangollen in the big freeze.

But one of them isn't a scene from the latest artic spell and dates back all the way to 1982.

Snapped on January 28 of that year, it shows Castle Street under a layer of snow which doesn't look far off the depth it reached last weekend.

We thank Kathy very much for sending them in.

If you have any pictures to share with readers please send them in to llanblogger@gmail.com

* Castle Street under snow in January 1982.

* An icy River Dee.

* Fallen trees blocking Pen-y-Maes.

* Cars buried in the Hermitage.

* Grapes Hill on Saturday.
 

Latest weather updates

* Council staff clear the snow from Castle Street on Tuesday afternoon.

 

 

Latest update from the county council:

Highways teams, contractors and individuals have been working round the clock but are now reporting significant progress in clearing the large number of roads which have been impassable since the heavy snowfall last week.
At it's peak, huge swathes of county were covered in several feet of snow and clearance efforts were particularly hampered by extreme and treacherous weather conditions. A strong breeze saw roads becoming blocked again by drifting snow no sooner than they were cleared. Efforts on some major roads, like the A5, were further hampered by a number of fallen trees and abandoned cars.

Cabinet Lead Member for Environment, Councillor David Smith, said: "This was an exceptional weather event and our highways staff were telling us they'd never seen conditions like this.
"Our priority was to clear the major roads and gritting routes first of all, which is now more or less complete.

"In the meantime, we have also been mapping the large amount of minor roads and country lanes, some of which are blocked hedge to hedge with snow, and we are now increasingly able to turn our attention to these and good progress is being made on clearing these today."
Staff have also been deployed to clear the town centres in Llangollen and Corwen in time for the Easter weekend and we are making good progress."

Earlier ...


* Bache Mill Road, Llangollen is closed.

A tree has fallen and is putting strain on considerable sized branches that may also come away and create a serious safety hazard.

* The heavy lifters have been in town this afternoon.

Teams of county council workers were using bulldozers and other heavy vehicles to shift piles of compacted snow from roads in the towns centre, including Castle Street, Market Street and Regent Street.

* A meeting due to be held tonight by the campaign group Keep Llangollen Health Services to discuss tactics in the wake of the closure of the cottage hospital has been cancelled due to the weather.

 

The meeting was to have taken place at the Hand Hotel at 7pm.

 

But organiser Mabon Ap Gwynfor said: "Unfortunately, due to the unseasonal snow we have cancelled tonight's meeting at the Hand Hotel.

 

"We'll reorganise it and contact you with the information as soon as possible."

Keep an eye on your neighbours

As most areas of North Wales returns to a form of normality following the inclement weather, people are reminded to keep an eye on vulnerable members of the community.

 

The majority of roads are now passable, but some of the estates in Wrexham, Flintshire and Denbighshire remain impassable as do the roads to the remote rural properties.

 

“All the agencies have worked together to address the issues, but we have to prioritise, and we are asking people to consider their neighbours,” said Chief Inspector Dave Roome.

 

Alistair Read of the North Wales Mountain Rescue Association explained: “There are some isolated pockets and we are advising people to plan ahead given the forecast. People should conserve food and look at energy supplies, we would ask people to make an assessment of their vulnerability and preparedness due to the uncertainty of the weather.”

.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the snow falls again this morning (Tuesday) Llangollen gets a number of mentions in this weather update story from the BBC North East Wales website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-21930029

KLS urges wide consultation on new tourism plan

Community group Keep Llangollen Special (KLS) has written to the company preparing a sustainable tourism strategy for the area stressing that a range of interested parties must be consulted as it is being drawn up.

In a letter to the consultants working on the project, KLS chair Mike Edwards (pictured below) says: “We trust you will be consulting fully when formulating your strategy and talking to residents, retailers, producers, hoteliers and outdoor activity providers etc.

“We are a constructive, properly constituted community organisation and our principal aim is to protect and promote the identity, image and brand of Llangollen.

"We have been holding monthly Buy Local days on the second Friday of every month since the middle of last year. “The aim of these is to support and promote independent local businesses (retailers and suppliers) to keep money circulating in the local economy rather than being it being exported to corporate HQs elsewhere.
 
“We are working with Cittaslow Llangollen and the Town Council to support Field2Fork encouraging residents to buy local fresh produce sufficient for their immediate needs and not buy and waste excess food as they are persuaded  into doing by supermarkets.

“We also want to promote local food producers and farmers whose meat products have trusted provenance and help particular local butchers, greengrocers, delicatessens and cafes who will shortly face severe competition from an out-of-town supermarket who propose to export £18.4m pa out of the Llangollen economy.
 
“We are actively investigating a number of key schemes to promote these aims.

“If your consultations are open and truly involve local residents, we would be happy to share our ideas and plans with you.

“One of the problems we have identified is that there are numerous organisations in Llangollen some of which have their own agenda and there is a need to pull these fragmented interest together because at the end of the day surely everyone is interested in protecting and enhancing everything which is special about Llangollen and the Dee Valley.”

Melting snow causes structural damage

llanblogger's narrow escape from falling gutter ...

Reports are coming in of damage to property all over town caused by tons of melting snow.

As a partial thaw set in llanblogger has been hearing of snow-laden trees crashing on to patios and carports and through the windows of parked cars. 

Llanblogger’s own property in Regent Street was among those hit earlier this afternoon.

A huge area of melting snow slid down the roof of the house bringing over 20 feet of heavy cast-iron guttering (pictured right) crashing to the ground. 

One of the heavy sections went straight through the rear of a car parked on the driveway at the side. It later had to be towed away for repairs.

The falling guttering, which came down along with a massive wooden faceboard, landed only feet away from where llanblogger editor Phil Robinson was out clearing away snow.

Out on the road, the A5 which had been closed between Llangollen and Corwen since Saturday, was finally re-opened at around 5pm today.  

Meanwhile, Clwyd South MP Susan Elan Jones has written to ScottishPower’s headquarters in Glasgow to ask what the company is doing to help customers in her constituency through the current spell of arctic weather. 

In her letter she says: “Following recent bad weather experienced within my constituency, I am writing to ascertain what action ScottishPower has taken in the Clwyd South area in order to help constituents through this difficult time. 

“A number of constituents have reported blackouts to their power over the past week as a result of the extreme weather conditions that have hit North East Wales. Some have been left without power for a number of days. 

“I would appreciate clarification of what has happened and any details on action taken by Scottish Power in order to combat the issues that my constituents have been experiencing. Furthermore, I would be grateful if you could provide details of the compensation package available to those who have been affected by the cuts in power and what can be expected by constituents who have been experiencing these problems.”