Snow wreaks misery in West Midlands again with more to come
Heavy snow wreaked more misery across the region with forecasters warning there was more to come.
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A fresh blanket of snow fell overnight on Friday with drivers facing treacherous driving conditions yesterday and many roads blocked before 7am
Flights to and from Birmingham Airport were suspended yesterday morning with passengers being advised to check the status of their flight with the airline or visit its website.
On the roads, the Birmingham New Road through Sandwell and into Wolverhampton was down to one lane on either side of the road, with drivers restricted to about 25mph along the 40mph route.
In Staffordshire, the A515 was closed off outside Kings Bromley and the Orbital Route in Cannock was blocked at around 6am by three lorries which skidded out of control.
Power cuts and travel disruption continued to blight Britain today, as more snow falls across the country on another bitterly cold day.
The snow and ice is expected to cause continued problems on the nation's transport network. Motorists have been urged by the Highways Agency to be cautious and check conditions before setting out.
The Met Office still has yellow "be aware" weather alerts in place sweeping from south-east England up to southern Scotland, covering Northern Ireland and north-east Wales.
Up to an inch of snow has fallen across eastern Scotland and central parts of England, the Midlands, East Anglia and Lincolnshire. Another inch will build up in the same areas throughout the day, spreading to east Wales and northern England.
In Lancashire, a man was found dead in deep snow after walking home on Friday night in severe weather.
The body of the 27-year-old, who has not been named, was found by a farmer in Brierfield, near Burnley, at about 1.30pm on Saturday.
Road users have been urged to check the weather forecast before travelling while motorists faced long journeys home along the region’s road networks on Friday night, with heavy delays on the M5, M6 and M54. One woman had to be cut from her car and taken to hospital after her vehicle collided with the M54 flyover bridge at Codsall Wood in Staffordshire.
At Wolverhampton, a broken down car on the ring road blocked one lane from Snow Hill to the Penn Road island, causing delays for motorists.
Meanwhile, the M5 southbound between the M6 and junction two for Oldbury was slow during Friday night’s rush hour following an accident.
Night-time closures of the M6 between junction five at Castle Bromwich and junction six at Birmingham to allow improvement work on Saturday were postponed.
The prolonged cold snap has also sparked fears that the UK will run out of stored gas, but the National Grid has said there is “plenty of gas available”, and the Department of Energy and Climate Change has said gas needs are being met.
The south-west suffered heavy downpours and flash flooding, more than 90 flood risk alerts are in place. A landslide and floodwater in Cornwall smashed through a block of flats partially collapsing the building.
Emergency crews and specialist investigators found a woman’s body after picking through debris at the Veronica flats in Looe. The body is believed to be that of Susan Norman, who is in her 60s and police said was unaccounted for, having not been heard from since returning to the flat on Thursday night.
A West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Open Day due to take place in Birmingham yesterday was cancelled.
Comments for: "Snow wreaks misery in West Midlands again with more to come"
Samson
Why haven't we seen any griiter trucks ?
Absolutely ridiculous.
Jimbo
I counted 4 between Bradmore and New cross yesterday around 5pm.
Not so ridiculous!
john
I worked from late afternoon yesterday until the early hours,Gritters were and have been out.Why take a cheap shot at them.of course they have been out
ste
Funny that as i must off seen about 15 leaving the depo last night back and forward grit only works to a point. If theres to much snow coming down then the grit has no effect. And with no cars on road makes it worse. I had no problem driveing a bus last night till late. I bet other countrys laugh at us wen it snows
Billy
How long was your bus parked up outside the council depot then to see that amount?
paulene griffiths
Quite agree with you about gritting teams - think they are very efficient in Wolverhampton (lets face it it needs one good thing about the town!) but can you please spell when correctly, not wen and countrys is countries.
Cheers
Tem
It doesn't matter how many gritters are out and I have seen plenty, it is the people who can't drive in the snow that cause problems
Sarah
Paulene,
I think you need to re-read your post before criticising others. Your grammar is very poor.
ghost
grit doesnt work on snow anyway
BOF
It doh work like that on snow.
Works well on ice though which we have not got yet.
They work in cloaked mode too, so as not to be seen :)
Kim Owen
The gritters have not been around here either . Can not believe how deep the snow is out there at the moment :-(
KevinTran
Nice post!
joannelatham
We're out sledging on the big bank A449 Wombourn island, been here since 8am, kids going wild:
Andy Wombourne
Celebrity sledging on the main road,eh?
pat
Nice to hear :-)
lambe48
only problem with sledging on wombourne island is where you lot dump your cars on both sides of the road and create havoc, totally irrisponsable.
The Lord of Bradmore
Please take you rubbish away with yoy
Andy
Because we don, t have GRIITER trucks !
baggie mick
i saw two going down to toll road last nigt at 9.40 ain't seen one since or a bus or postman never like this in the 60's we just got on with it shame it day drop the load of snow in london panic or what
antony j
as a guy now living in Canada
i can tell you this stuff is nothing
we still get out the b.b.q. and cook up moose in weather like this
enjoy it while it lasts
Billy
The moose or the snow?
antony j
either one is good
but freshly hunted moose is just yummy
sherri
sounds nice we are having a bonfire with chilli and baked potatoes it is silly that people think its the end of the world with a touch of snow :)
Pan
I live on Tettenhall Road and the gritter trucks were out in force yesterday, so Samson - stop talking rubbish !
Shell
We have a gritter come down our road roughly every 3 hours.
mr refuse collector
With this extended cold snap, I can see the foreign owned energy companies rubbing their hands with glee, while the ordinary man on the street struggles to pay the the bills with no pay rise in sight for years or even a pay cut on the table these days. Roll on the next election it can't come soon enough.
Mans Best Friend
Mr refuse collector, for a moment I almost thought you were going to blame the Wicked Tories for the weather itself, you seem to be blaming them for everything else.
I look forward to the next Labour manifesto - pledging automatic pay rises for all works earning less than 25000.
We could try and go back to the days of nationalised energy, but I think that with the frequent power cuts caused by the unions going on strike every five minutes, people might think the present situation isn't so bad after all.
And, BTW so much for Labour's wind farms - utterly useless, and admittedly not a great move by the Coalition to keep them going.
Phil H
And i can see the bins not being emptied again mr refuse collector lol. the trouble with the British its any excuse for a day off, and yes im British and not proud any more. but you are right, roll on the next election, the rich will have to pay hard after the next one.
Mboy
Why? What's going to change?
Simon
We had a lovely evening in Birmingham last night at Alfie Boe.... 1 Gritter spotted on way back to Wolves though! Where were they?
M6, A454, Keyway, Willenhall Road, Ring Road, Chapel Ash ALL poor - 10 - 15 mph max as driving on snow, no sign of road
Very Poor Wolverhampton - Main roads should have been cleared with ploughs and then gritted...
And you do this at time of sending me my Council Tax bill !!! What a Joke
BOF
Was your exciting journey really necessary?
Doubt it.
Then you would save yourself some angst and moaning about weather which we always get.
Wolves roads were very good during good weather, perhaps do notgo out when it was known to be going to be rough.
Think
Sally
I work on Tettenhall Road, yes saw I a gritter but W'ton town centre had no snow to disperse anyway. Try living in Dudley. It's been the worst 48 hours with over 2ft depths (not drift). Ok so I choose to live in Dudley. And as the for school closures, that's ridiculous. What would people do if the banks, building societies and (oh my word) he dole office closed because of heating probs, what on earth would the majority of W'ton do?
Bobwolf101
I went to the Severn Valley Railway..from Wolverhampton to Kidderminster by train. So anyone thinking of going go by train as they aren't affected by the snow much.
paul
Roads are clear.
stacey
Can everyone please check their grammar when posting comments.
Spelling mistakes and poorly formed sentences render many relevant points futile.
BOF
Yes peeple can check but why bother? It is after all only a board.Unles you want ti cut and paste comments to make a story for yourself somewhereelse? ummmmmmmmm?
Point made?
kiwi wqlves
Snow??? what's that? I have not seen that for the last 8 years! We are suffering the worst drought for 70 years! Enjoy it while you can. New Zealand is BURNT BROWN and no rain for 3 months.
Westie
Iv'e seen the trucks go by but unfortunately, they were not putting any grit down, just driving about to assure us of their presence I suppose. Jolly bad show.
paul
im coming from burton to cannock tommorow at 5am for work is it passable coming through rugeley
Luke skywalker
Well said Stacey. Have no idea what point baggie Mick was trying to make.
BOF
Try reading it! Then again slowly, then again even more slowly!
Maks perfeck sense to meeeeee.
I cor unnerstan yow, lucky
john
There goes another of the lesser flashing gritter that people seem to think are extinct
jolly paul
well done baggie mick true black country twang we have no snow up here in blackpool no gritters but truly dont miss the midlands bad snow and its not changed no gritters
ray
Stacey, can you please explain how poor spelling and bad grammer makes a point less relavent as long as you can understand the point being made.
Tina
Just got home and saw 3 gritter lorries on my short 2 miles journey through Dudley. Main roads seem clear enough in town but just hope the stuff works because is black ice everywhere where the snow started to thaw.
Dizzy Lizzy
We would be happy for snow here in Perth Western Australia after suffering the hottest summer on record with temps of 40degs cel plus!!!!!! You pay for heat and we have to pay for aircon! Hope it clears up soon for you and gets a bit warmer.
anon
is there no way that footpaths can be cleared for the poor peolpe who have
to walk.think mof the elderley and young children going to school if they are open.