Storm official warning: don't panic!

Michael Fish has advised us to 'batten down the hatches'.

Watching the drama 'Blackout' on the Channel 4 On Demand website a few days ago was good preparation. Got candles & transistor radio in case there is a power cut.

I will follow the usual advice (r.e. power surges) and unplug my hi fi and computer before going to bed in an hour or so.

The BBC have just shown an RNLI boat out at sea. The way it was bouncing up and down glad i aint one of those onboard.

Mista h

      No knighthood for you Tony - as if you give a hoot

The storm was weird; I lay in bed at 05:00 watching the trees about 50 yards away - they hardly moved, light breeze stuff.  The same at 06:00, then at 06:15 it suddenly lashed rain & the wind turned from southerly to due west - like in 1 minute - & the wind went ballistic for an hour. At 07:30 it had died down to a strong wind & at 08:00 it was just a breeze with blue sky peeping between the clouds. We have trees down & 1 of the 3 roads into the village blocked,  ditto all around the area according to the steam wireless & local www.

Well, thank goodness the worst of it has passed and nothing compared to 87'. The physical damage can always be remedied but unfortunate the tragic loss of lives cannot.

I had a similar experience Mike. When I got up at 6am it was eerily calm but from 6.30 to 7.15 it just howled. There were trees and branches down but I managed to get to work. I found a single tile on the floor out back but I can't see where it's come from on the roof. Unfortunately a man was killed just down the road from me by a tree falling on his car so my little problems pale into insignificance. Poor sod, he was only in his '50s.

Well, it was pretty windy here yesterday - enough to tear part of the roof off the garage and bring down a couple of trees.  It kept up over night to the point where I couldn't sleep as I was listening to the tiles rippling on the roof and waiting to hear the awful crack and crunch of trees going over. I sat up in bed with a cup of tea from about 4am until the power went out at 6am.  My neighbour rang on the bell at 7am asking for help because a large limb had fallen from a 300 year old oak right across the driveway and she was unable to get to work.  By that time the gusts were getting pretty bad and I didn't fancy getting the chainsaw kit on and cutting up the limb with the risk of another limb falling on my head - good thing too because at 8am a chestnut limb was wrenched off and landed right where I would have been working!

By 11am I judged it safe enough to get sawing - 3 trees needing immediate attention but about 10 more down in the woods.  No tiles off the house (Thankfully) but a wrecked garage and stable - leaking now and needing substantial repairs.  And hooray - the power came back on an hour ago!

Others have not been so lucky - and a few have lost their lives.  Thankful here to be spared the worst.

Hmmmm....

A bit of a non-event here it would seem.

Strong winds and a bit of rain at about 06:00 I guess, but nothing exceptional. One plum tree broken in the orchard and a bit of loose fence, but that's it, as far I could tell.

No problems getting to work along the the A34/A303. A few small branches and lots of leaves on the ground, but nothing else and no flooding.

We were flying training until 18:00 Sunday, winds 20kts gusting 33 and much the same this morning at 08:00. No damage to any aircraft parked outside, although all the training a/c were as usual, hangared overnight.

My day off tomorrow so will have a more careful look around here just in case I missed something this morning that Mrs D hasn't seen during the day.

As I say, a non- event but very, very grateful.

Cheers

Don

The storm completely missed Worcester.

Seasonal rain only and no exceptional winds at all.

I peaked out of the door early this morning and decided to ride the bike to work. It was early enough to have walked if necessary.

But I can sympathise with the Met Office offering a severe warning. At least most people were ready for the worst, which after all could have happened across a large swathe of Southern Britain.

ATB From George