Storm Ciara’s wind and rain batter the island
HURRICANE force winds and torrential rain continued to batter the islands yesterday, with trees down, flooding and debris in the roads.
Guernsey is clearing up from Storm Ciara that saw maximum gusts of 67 knots, or 77mph, at 10.25pm on Sunday, the strongest in two-and-a-half years.
Trees came down in St Martin’s and St Andrew’s, and there was debris thrown over the walls at Vazon, Cobo, L’Eree and Perelle, with west coast roads flooded at high tide.
Meteorologists said winds would continue overnight last night at between force seven and nine.
‘It will be very breezy all week,’ a Guernsey Met Office spokesman said.
‘We’ve issued a further warning for gale force nine winds over the next 24 hours.
‘It’s going to be unsettled weather for the coming days with lots more rain to come.’
Westerly strong force six to seven winds, occasionally gale force eight, are expected today, with a risk of hail and thunder, combining with a tide peaking at 9.9m at 8.01am and again at 8.44am tomorrow.
Condor cancelled all of yesterday’s sailings of the Condor Liberation and the Commodore Clipper, offering passengers alternative sailing dates, with today’s Clipper running on a revised schedule due to the weather conditions. Thursday’s sailings are under review.
Condor said it was monitoring the adverse weather conditions and a further update to this service will be made by 7pm today.
Commodore Goodwill, the freight boat, was due to depart this morning at 4, however, it has missed one rotation sheltering in St Peter Port over the weekend due to a lack of berth availability in Portsmouth.
A Condor Ferries spokesman said it should run a full service today.
Channel Chieftain V was also unable to bring the national newspapers from Jersey to Guernsey on both Sunday and yesterday, with today’s delivery said to be uncertain by skipper David Nuth.
In the skies, nearly all flights were cancelled on Sunday but there were arrivals from Jersey and Southampton.
Passengers were told safety was the main concern and at numerous airports passengers were not allowed off the plane due to strong gusts as the steps used for disembarking could not be used safely.
Several flights were also delayed and cancelled yesterday, alongside a further red weather warning of high winds and thunder storms issued for both Guernsey and in the channel.
Yellow weather warnings for snow, ice and wind have been issued across the UK with flood warnings remaining in place across the country.
Forecasters said some areas could see blizzards and up to 8in of snow, while heavy rain and gusts of up to 97mph causing a significant amount of disruption.
