THURROCK Council staff were out and about in the weekend’s stormy weather helping local people cope with the damage caused by high winds. The major issue was the closure of George Street in Grays as the roof of The State Cinema became a danger to the public.
Building control officers were quickly on the scene and worked in liaison with the owners to make it safe.
And a dozen members of the street services team were put on stand-by before the storm struck, along with one of the council’s tree surgery contractors.
On Friday night and Saturday morning the team dealt with ten major incidents – including five fallen trees, two fallen walls, a roof blown off a garage block, some broken glass and a damaged supply box.
Leader of the Council, Cllr John Kent said on Monday: “I want to personally thank all of the council staff and managers who worked so hard to keep people safe while the storm was raging.
“Their work often goes unnoticed by those of us who do not have need to call them out in desperate times and I think we all owe them a debt of thanks for putting themselves at risk for our safety.”
He added: “Unfortunately people are often quick to criticise and slow to praise. These past few months has seen the council teams regularly put on stand-by in the middle of the night and through weekends and we should all be grateful that there are people willing to use their skills in this way when most of us would rather stay safe indoors.”
For one moment reading the headline I thought it was about council workers tackling the hot air spouted by the political inhabitants of the civic offices.