The North East has been warned to brace itself for dangerously strong winds as Storm Jake sweeps through the UK.
The Met Office has warned coastal communities of 70mph-plus gales, snow, ice and wintry showers that “have the potential to cause travel disruption”.
The Met Office said: “It’s going to be cold, unsettled and windy the further west you go with plenty of showers pushing through from the north and they could be wintery”.
Despite this, people from Sunderland are worried about the perceived lack of warning from the government and feel that constant weather scare stories are ‘immunising’ us.
Alan Thompson, retired, of Sunderland, said: “They [the government] should warn us about these things.”
Kathleen Smith, retired, of Sunderland, said: “Our holiday home is in Beverly [East Riding of Yorkshire], we have received no warning of this.”
Her husband, Dave Smith, said there were too many horror stories about bad weather, adding: “I do feel that the constant rhetoric of the weather is damaging our will to respond to these crises”.
However, Manfred Byrne, also retired, said: “What can the government do? They can’t build dykes and ditches overnight.”
Storm Jake is further bad news for communities trying to rebuild after severe winter storms earlier this year that brought heavy rain and high winds.
Storms deluged cities, towns, and villages across the country in the wettest December since records began.
Many people were left without power and basic amenities after what some called the UK’s worst flooding in a generation.
The Environment Agency was criticised for failing to respond to the crisis and not building promised flood defences. Agency chair Sir Phillip Dilley resigned in January after media scrutiny.
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