Government responds as Storm Goretti criticism grows in Cornwall
At Goretti’s height there were 55,000 houses without power and 16,000 homes without water across the Duchy
The Government has responded to the aftermath of Storm Goretti in Cornwall following criticism that it hasn’t done enough to support Cornish residents.
As of 8am today (Tuesday, January 13) 397 properties in Cornwall were still without power, while Cornwall Council and other authorities are dealing with the aftermath of more than 1,000 trees which were uprooted during the storm. That figure is believed to be a conservative estimate.
At Goretti’s height there were 55,000 houses without power and 16,000 homes without water across the Duchy.
West Cornwall’s Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George has been very vocal in calling for a ‘national emergency’ response to help communities across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly after the massive devastation caused by the storm.
He has been critical of the Government for granting such a response in East Grinstead in Sussex but not in Cornwall, which was more badly affected.
He said yesterday (Monday, January 12): “I called on our House Speaker to grant me the right to call for a National Emergency response, but instead, he’s granted one for East Grinstead, which has been suffering a water outage across 16,500 homes.
“Now, I have every sympathy for the beleaguered people of East Grinstead and would never seek to diminish the terrible impact this has had and is having on them. But I’m certain the impact of the devastating storm experienced in Cornwall and on Scilly would dwarf that of the poor folk affected in the South East. Over 50,000 homes have experienced water and/or electricity outages here.
“The official figures for homes cut off from water and electricity in Cornwall and Scilly is unreliable and, from what I saw and have seen, is far worse than the gloss presented by the utility providers.
“Added to this, most of the areas affected by water supply outage have not been able to report or communicate because they had no means of doing so, thanks largely to those higher authorities who turned off the previously functioning analogue telephone system, which has proven to be more resilient following these incidents than the much vaunted digital technologies.”
Cornwall Council’s Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Leigh Frost told us: “Cornwall was worse off than Kent and Sussex, we absolutely were. We haven’t declared a critical incident here, but that’s typical Cornish – we just get on with the job.
“Over 1,000 incidents were recorded across Cornwall – most of them multi tree incidents.
“People now know what they need to prepare for if anything like this happens again. There are definitely lessons we can learn from it to ensure we are better prepared if there is a next time.”
A No 10 spokesperson told us: “We understand the difficulties faced by communities in Cornwall still without power or water and our thoughts are with all those affected by Storm Goretti.
“We want to see them reconnected as soon as possible and are continuing to work round the clock with local authorities, network engineers and emergency responders to make that happen.”
On Sunday afternoon, DEFRA minister Mary Creagh chaired an emergency response meeting with SWW in Cornwall, with the aim of restoring supplies and prioritising vulnerable customers and essential public services.
“On Sunday, ministers and MPs held an emergency response meeting with water companies in Cornwall to drive the changes needed to restore water supply while prioritising vulnerable customers, and we will continue to provide whatever support is needed to communities.”
Jayne Kirkham, Labour MP for Truro and Falmouth, said: “We’ve had some amazing responses from brilliant workers and the community on the ground. We need to get everyone reconnected and then start looking at our rural communications.
“Lack of mobile phone coverage and reliance on digital mean we hit problems when the power goes off. And we need to make sure we know where the vulnerable people are, can contact them and get them support.”
Mr George said: “If this had happened in London or the Home Counties it would have been headline national news for days and the government would declare a national emergency.”
A large number of people have commented on the lack of national coverage of how badly hit Cornwall has been. Comments among our readers include:
“I live in Cambridgeshire but follow this page as my kids were/are at Falmouth. I mentioned to a local chap how lucky we were not to have been affected by the storm and how bad it’s been down there. He said, ‘Oh that will all be sorted by now I should think’. When I said it wasn’t he seemed to doubt me but there’s been no national coverage that I’ve seen since Friday. Like the rest of the country isn’t interested for which I apologise.”
“Just watched BBC national news, not a mention of the South West but plenty of coverage on the area of South East that hasn’t had water over the weekend. I think that says it all.”
“If this was impacting the people that matter to the government, they’d have had so much more response from even our armed forces coming out to make sure roads were cleared, houses and businesses had power and all had food and a way to access water!”
“Would have thought it appropriate that we were graced with a visit from ‘representatives’ of the Duchy, but they’ve been surprisingly quiet too.”
“Well done Andrew George for speaking out to the government. He is exactly right about emergency reaction to London and and south east if storm affects their area. They put South West last and they know nothing about rural areas.”