West coast drenched by high spring tide last night
SIGNIFICANT amounts of flooding drenched the west coast of the island from the Imperial Hotel to Vistas last night [15 Nov].
A spring high tide came at around 6.30pm, but with winds reaching nearly 30mph, the island's west coast took a battering.
Stones, pebbles, seaweed and shingle were lifted up over the sea walls, soaking the roads and the exterior of some properties.
Civil Protection officers closed much of the west coast road network to vehicles in the evening for safety reasons.
They were on standby for Guernsey Police in the afternoon and attended at about 5.30pm.
'We had advanced notice of the likely situation which meant we had more time available to us to get protective measures in place,' Civil Protection officer Dave Hodge said.
'We were able to provide feedback on the changing conditions to the police as the high tide approached and as it hit.'
Nine officers were present.
Despite the roads being closed, one sports car needed to be towed away by a recovery lorry after it was swamped with flood water near La Grande Mare Hotel.
A Civil Protection officer who was present said that staff at Perelle Garage had closed early and put sandbags out ahead of the high tide, but some water had still managed to seep under the door into the storage area.
Officers liaised with States Works to prioritise areas that needed to be cleared first so that all vehicles, not just four-by-fours, could pass by.
Mr Hodge said: 'There was a significant amount of water and debris coming over the walls, all the way from the Imperial to Vistas at Vazon, and further round to Cobo.'
Civil Protection went back to the west coast again this morning [16 Nov] ahead of the high tide and stood down at 7.45am.
