Storm Ciara certainly left its mark on the Isle of Wight with homes damaged, trees down and major disruption to cross-Solent travel yesterday (Sunday).
Firefighters were called to the Camp Hill estate in Newport when the end of a family home was ripped off by the wind, as previously reported by Island Echo. Similar damage has also been caused to a property just off St John’s Road in Ryde (pictured above) and in Mill Street, Newport. Thankfully no one was injured in either incident.
It was almost a different story over in Sandown when Bembridge Coastguard Rescue Team were called to reports of a kite surfer in difficulty at Yaverland. Luckily, the man was able to make it back to Yaverland slipway uninjured – by more luck than judgement.
Island Roads battled throughout Sunday to respond to more than 30 storm-related incidents across the Island’s road network. The main Ryde to Newport road was shut off for a time when a tree fell across the carriageway, damaging a street light in the process. Contractors continue to work to clear a number of fallen trees on Middle Road this morning.
Over in Niton… a couple were left stranded when a large tree came down across Old Blackgang Road – a dead-end country lane. The motorists reported to Island Roads that they had become trapped in the no-through road deep within Niton Undercliff, but had to do so via the internet as they were unable to get through to the highways team on the telephone.
The biggest impact of the storm was to cross-Solent services with the Island almost completely cut off from the mainland for a time. Wightlink and Red Funnel decided it was unsafe to operate their car ferry services from Fishbourne, East Cowes and Yarmouth meaning there was no way of getting vehicles on or off the Island for a large chunk of the day. Unsurprisingly, Hovertravel’s Ryde to Southsea service was suspended for the entire day, as was Red Funnel’s Red Jet.
Praise goes to Wightlink for keeping their catamaran service between Ryde Pier Head and Portsmouth running, even through the peak of the storm. This was the only service to be running at times.
Winds of up to 97mph were recorded on the Island – the strongest in the country. The Needles battery recorded the top speed at around 14:00 yesterday afternoon. The conditions took its toll on local marine life – a dolphin was found washed up on the beach at Compton.
Although today sees a significant improvement on yesterday’s weather, there is still a yellow weather warning in place for strong winds. You can read all the latest weather information at https://www.iwmetservice.co.uk/weather-warning/.
A flood warning has also been issued by the Environment Agency. Details on this can be found at https://www.islandecho.co.uk/flood-warning-issued-immediate-action-required-says-environment-agency/.
The Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary have decided to remain closed today (Monday) to enable staff time to clear all damage and debris, ready to re-open on Tuesday.
