By James Rougvie

HOWLING WINDS of up to 100 mph last night closed the Tay Road Bridge.

It was the fourth time in two weeks the bridge was closed to all traffic as Scotland was left reeling by the most severe storm in over a decade.

The bridge was closed at 4.45 pm and was still shut early this morning—understood to be the longest period of closure since it opened 39 years ago.

As drivers were turned off the southbound ramp in their thousands at peak time and back into a gridlocked city centre, incredulous bridge officials watched a handful of cyclists pedal to the lift at the north end, having hoisted their bikes over a closed gate at the Fife end.

“The bridge was closed for their own good because the wind was gusting up to almost 90 mph. They put themselves at risk and would also have put others lives at risk if they had got into serious trouble. There is a bye-law that forbids them to cross when the gate is shut so they were breaking the law.”

The Tay Rail Bridge was also closed throughout the evening from 4.45 pm and services re-routed via Perth.

As rush-hour traffic built up just before 5 pm and tailbacks lengthened in Dock Street for the south-bound ramp, the electronic messaging system signalled at 5.10 pm that the bridge had closed, too late for many unable to get off the ramp and back into the city centre. They were later allowed to U-turn around the tollbooths to find an alternative route out of the city.

A bridge spokesman said once the wind reached 45mph, double-deck buses were stopped and a 30mph speed limit imposed. If the wind hit 60mph, the bridge was then closed to high-sided vehicles and full-length single deckers, caravans, motor cycles, pedestrians and cyclists. Only cars were allowed to cross—but at 80 mph, the bridge was closed completely and every type was vehicle was deemed to be at risk.

Cataloguing the timetable of rising wind, the spokesman said that at 5.10 pm wind speed had risen to 87.9 mph and then shortly afterwards to 96.9 mph, with the Met Office forecasting gusts of exactly 100 mph throughout the night. However, if the wind dropped below 80 mph, bridge staff would have to wait until it had dropped away for at least 45 minutes before the bridge could re-open.

Meanwhile, the Forth Road Bridge remained open through mid-evening as winds over the estuary hovered around 65 mph, well below the closure speed of 80 mph. A spokesman said double deck vehicles would be stopped if gusts exceeded 45 mph, high-sided vehicles at 50 mph, with only cars allowed if winds exceeded 65 mph.

He said the bridge would close completely in the face of 80 mph gusts. The wind was rising and he expected the bridge would in all likelihood close at some point in the late evening.

* The weather also caused problems for homeowners across the country, many of whom will be without power this morning after the winds caused faults across the network, writes Mark Mackay.

By late evening, more than 150 major faults had been reported, plunging some 60,000 customers into darkness, with Scottish Hydro Electric anticipating more faults through the night. A spokesman said, “The storm started to hit the SHE area from mid-afternoon. It began on the islands on the west coast and swept through Tayside and into Perthshire. As the winds increase, we expect more of our area to be affected.”

Hydro Electric brought in extra staff and engineers to tackle wind damage, but some customers were luckier than others. Conditions in places last night made it too difficult for engineers to do repairs and, while some were being re-connected, others were losing power.

“Where it is possible to switch to an additional circuit we will do that, but when it comes to engineers climbing poles, there may be delays,” the spokesman added. “We would ask customers to bear with us, but I’m sure they will understand—you only have to look out your window to see the conditions we are dealing with. We would remind all customers they should not go near any power lines brought down by the storms as they could still be live. They should keep themselves and others well away and notify us as quickly as possible by calling the 24-hour emergency number 0800 300 999.”