Island hit by harsh weather
Harsh easterly winds and torrential rain caught shoppers, sailors, and emergency services by surprise, with flooding along parts of St Peter Port’s seafront.
Gusting at almost 60mph, the wind forced waves high over Havelet sea wall and, with 2cm of rain in the first 12 hours of the day, drains were unable to cope with the amount of water.
Just before noon the fire service cordoned off areas around Havelet due to flooding, and Civil Protection volunteers helped to manage traffic.
Islanders unlucky enough to have left cars in the area were escorted to their vehicles by the emergency services.
With a morning high tide of less than eight metres, businesses along South Esplanade were caught unaware by the surge of water.
Network Insurance staff were hastily putting out sandbags at their office.
‘I think this took everyone by surprise,’ said managing director Oliver Goater.
‘It’s just been a torrential downpour coupled with water flying up over the Havelet wall, and there is just nowhere for it to go. So far it has not got into the building.’
The insurance brokers arrange the insurance for several of the buildings along the front, including their own.
‘We are expecting a few claims to come in,’ he said. ‘Hopefully we won’t be putting one in ourselves.’
Yacht Inn landlady Lex Vainovskis and her staff were also putting out the sandbags, but said there was nothing they could do about their cellar, which was already more than a foot deep in water.
‘It’s up to your knees down there, as there’s a drop to the cellar there is little we can do about that,’ she said.
‘The pumps are on to get rid of the water, but it just has nowhere to drain away.’
As well as protecting her own building, she contacted her neighbours just in case they were unaware of what was happening.
‘It’s always a real team effort down here,’ she said, ‘and this is one of those days where people might not know how bad it is.
‘We are not due to open until 5pm, but even then I think anyone coming should think about wearing wellies or coming in a canoe.’
Further up the road at Mart the Barbers, they had managed to avoid flooding but had seen little business.
‘We have had a few cancellations and no-one dropping in,’ said owner Mart Le Vallee. ‘I ended up walking to work in barefoot to save my shoes.’
The miserable weather saw the postponement of a number of outdoor events, including a children’s nature walk at KGV and a beach clean organised by Guernsey Mind.
As well as closing the South Esplanade, police warned drivers of significant areas of standing water on the west coast road from the Imperial Hotel to Vazon, and CT Plus had to divert bus routes due to a fallen tree at Le Frie Baton.
