1982 Fife’s Arctic freeze: Burst pipes, cancelled trains, and admissions to casualty treble

The whiteout caused real problems across the town as transport ground to a halt, hospitals were inundated with folk needing treatment after slipping, and huge numbers of council houses reported burst pipes.

January 1982 was certainly not one that will forgotten.

Temperatures fell to sub-zero, and quickly brought everyday life grinding to a halt.

Over 4000 emergency calls were made to the local authorities - Kirkcaldy District Council and Fife Regional Council.

Trains were cancelled, and hundreds of motorists were grounded

Pressure on hospital casualty departments trebled,

The big freeze reached crisis point over one weekend when council tenants jammed the telephone lines of a specially set up emergency centre at Kirkcaldy District Council with pleas for help.

One in five council houses was hit by burst pipes, with tenants transferred to emergency accommodation set up in community centres

Councillor David Duffy, who chaired the housing committee said: “The worst part of the tragedies has been the hardship faced by the elderly.

“It would break your heart to see the despair of old couples whose homes, furnishings, and belongings have been soaked by burst pipes.”

To help ease the avalanche of calls, the council recruited a number of plumbers from the ranks of the unemployed in addition to six Fife Regional Council plumbers.

Tenants struggled to find space to dry out their carpets - drying rooms available from private contractors were already being used to capacity and there was a waiting list for space

Train commuters were hit when the line between Edinburgh and Dundee was almost severed.

All local trains were cancelled on Monday save for the 7:25 to Aberdeen express which made unscheduled stops to pick up stranded passengers

William Wood, Fife area passenger manager, described the near Arctic conditions as among the worst he had experienced

“Weather conditions froze the coaches, and we had particular trouble at Thornton and Edinburgh because of severe frost.”

School buses were badly hit, causing some parents to complain their children had to walk.

The sports card was decimated but Raith Rovers managed to play two friendlies - one against Celtic, and one against Dundee United.

Thank you for reading this article on our free-to-read website. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

Please consider purchasing a subscription to our print newspaper to help fund our trusted, fact-checked journalism.

https://www.localsubsplus.co.uk/nord/dm/FFP/V