PHOTOS AND VIDEO: The Isle of Wight is feeling the brunt of Storm Brian this lunchtime (Saturday) with waves crashing over The Needles Lighthouse, seafronts flooding and extremely strong gusts being experienced across the Island.
Local residents have gathered in notorious locations such as Freshwater Bay, Totland, Gurnard and Ventnor to see the power of the sea as Storm Brian hits.
Huge waves have been witnessed at Freshwater – as filmed by Island Echo – and Egypt Esplanade near Cowes has flooded.
The Needles Coastwatch have reported 100mph gusts at the Island’s most Westerly point, with waves crashing over the famous Needles Lighthouse – a height of around 60ft. The watch keepers say they’ve never seen conditions like it with white water from Scratchells Bay to Bridge Buoy.
The Needles Battery has been closed to the public and Southern Vectis say The Needles Breezer bus is not serving the Battery for safety reasonably.
In Yarmouth, the Environment Agency have deployed flood defence barriers in the town alongside their Incident Command Unit. Thankfully, the high tide and storm surge has not been as bad as first forecast but the situation has been used as a good training exercise ahead of future deployments on the Island.
Hovertravel have suspended their cross-Solent Service and Red Funnel’s Red Jet is running a revised timetable with 1 boat has also been suspended.
We would love to see your photos – you can email [email protected] or send us a message on Facebook
