INFRASTRUCTURE teams worked tirelessly to clear fallen trees and debris at the weekend after Storm Darragh battered Jersey with gusts of up to 76mph.
Jersey’s Emergency Planning team, in co-ordination with Jersey Met, closely monitored the storm as it struck the Island – with an orange wind warning remaining in place yesterday afternoon.
Almost all of the flights to and from Jersey on Saturday and Sunday were cancelled or rescheduled.
Jersey Electricity reported several outages, but has since said that the network was back to being “fully operational” after engineers restored power to affected properties.
In a statement issued yesterday afternoon, the Infrastructure Department said: “Our teams worked through the night to clear 18 fallen trees and debris from main roads. Work continues on parish roads and in town where additional trees are down.”
The department also said that there had been reports of loose roof tiles across the Island. Damage to the main Les Quennevais Sports Centre building – which remained closed yesterday – was due to be assessed this morning, the organisation said in a social media post.
“Springfield is open as normal. Thank you for your understanding,” the statement added.
Jersey Met forecaster John Searson said that a maximum gust of 76mph was recorded at St Catherine’s Breakwater just before 6pm on Saturday, while Jersey Airport also saw a gust to 73mph.
“Obviously the winds were very strong yesterday and on safety grounds the aviation committee cancelled most of the flights,” he explained, noting that Sunday’s gusts were not as strong but had still involved above-limit cross-winds.
He said that “there shouldn’t be any more weather problems for flying” from this morning.
Mr Searson echoed comments made by head of meteorology Paul Aked, who on Friday sought to reassure Islanders that Storm Darragh was not expected to be as “severe” as Storm Ciarán.
“Storm Ciarán was another notch up on this one,” he explained.
“The problem, of course, is social media, and so much data being available online – some of that data is very good [but] some of it is the stuff that people pick up and sensationalise.”
