Government support needed while local storm responders remain overwhelmed 

Andrew George MP has made a statement about the national response to the impact of Storm Goretti on West Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, following his request for an Urgent Question in Parliament: 

“I called on our House Speaker to grant me the right to call for a National Emergency response to help the communities across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly after the massive devastation caused by Storm Goretti.  

“But instead, he’s granted one for East Grinstead, which has been suffering a water outage across 16,500 homes.  

“Now, I have every sympathy for the beleaguered people of East Grinstead and would never seek to diminish the terrible impact this has had and is having on them.  But I’m certain the impact of the devastating storm experienced in Cornwall and on Scilly would dwarf that of the poor folk affected in the South East. Over 50,000 homes have experienced water and/or electricity outages here.  

“Here’s my letter. The official figures for homes cut off from water and electricity in Cornwall and Scilly is unreliable and, from what I saw and have seen, is far worse than the gloss presented by the utility providers. Added to this, most of the areas affected by water supply outage have not been able to report or communicate because they had no means of doing so, thanks largely to those higher authorities who turned off the previously functioning analogue telephone system, which has proven to be more resilient following these incidents than the much vaunted digital technologies.”