A busy shift for West Mercia Police this afternoon and evening, 7th December, with Storm Darragh hitting hard. 

Large amounts of reports of blocked roads due to fallen trees and flooding across the force with North Shropshire being heavily affected.

The A5 became problematic with fallen tree’s and road closures due to the obstructions and the high wind speeds. Which was compounded with other diversion routes also being affected with closures. 

The Oswestry Safer Neighbourhood Team responded to a number of reports of fallen tree’s. On one occasion officers were able to remove the obstructing tree from the North carriage way with household saws and hands, along with an assist from Shropshire Highways who were on route to another road closure but stopped to assist allowing us to get the tree removed within 10 minutes of arriving at the location. 

A second report in the same location on the A5 saw a much larger tree blocking a third of the carriageway but mostly on the Northbound side. An amazing member of the public stopped to report the blockage and remained to direct traffic until officers arrived and continued to do so for some time after. Two tree surgeons on route to another incident also stopped to assist pruning back some of the branches allowing further room for maneuver, reducing the blockage to under half of the carriageway. Unfortunately, due to the darkness setting in on the unlit A5, the continued high wind speeds and rain, and the threat of further tree’s falling into the carriageway the A5 was closed between Gledrid and Gobowen roundabouts due to the risks poised to both passing vehicles and persons on foot assisting with traffic management.

Thankfully this did not remain the case for too long with two local farmers coming to the rescue bringing with them a Manitou and chainsaws. The Manitou made an instant impact and successfully removed the fallen tree whilst those helpers at scene and officers cleared a large amount of debris from the carriageway, thus allowing officers to reopen the A5 for continued use by commuters.

The Oswestry Safer Neighbourhood Team would like to say a massive Thank You to those members of the public who assisted in this situation taking some risk with the conditions and other tree’s threatening to fall. 

Shropshire Highways were informed of the blockage and concerns for the stretch of road but due to a large amount of similar reports no time of arrival was known which makes the efforts of those above even more valuable. 

We would like to inform the public that weather warnings have been put in place and persons warned not to travel during the storm and that any road users are expected to exercise due care and attention whilst travelling.