Islands miss the worst impact of Storm Barra

On the morning’s high tide, 1.5m waves broke spectacularly over sea walls around the island, but there were no calls for the emergency services, Guernsey Harbours, or Civil Protection volunteers.

As conditions calmed in the afternoon, Guernsey Met said that they would worsen again today.

‘The cold front associated with Storm Barra has just passed through Guernsey and with it the persistent rain. The back edge of the cold front looked like it might produce a brief spell of heavy rain showers, but we were fortunate in Guernsey as the worst of these seemed to pass to the north and south of us,’ a spokesman said.

‘Later Tuesday afternoon through evening and overnight we can expect squally showers with gale/severe gale force winds gusting 55-60mph. The storm system tracks slowly east over the next couple of days and remains a feature for much of the UK through Wednesday, but moderating.

‘It will certainly remain very windy here until Thursday morning, when it eases off a little, but the high tides Tuesday evening and today are likely to cause some problems on the west coast.’

No damage but travel disrupted

NO DAMAGE was done during yesterday’s storm. However, many travel plans were cancelled or interrupted.

All morning flights to and from Alderney were cancelled on Tuesday, as well as the mid-morning Aurigny flight to and from Manchester.

Condor Ferries cancelled the Commodore Clipper Portsmouth-Channel Islands return service for both yesterday and today due to conditions in the Channel. The Trinity from Jersey was also delayed.

Before the worst of the weather, the mail plane was able to arrive as usual yesterday morning, and morning flights from Jersey, Southampton and Gatwick arrived on time.

The Commodore Goodwill ferry arrived in Guernsey early on Tuesday before the severe weather, as did the Channel Chieftain V carrying daily national newspapers to the island.