Storm Darragh: 'I can't remember a storm causing so many trees to fall'
The clean-up continues across the West Country with many homes still left without power
Last updated 9th Dec 2024
Hundreds are still suffering power cuts following Storm Darragh across the West Country.
Some homes are being warned the might not be reconnected until 8pm tonight.
Gusts of 96mph were clocked at Berry Head in Brixham - the highest maximum speed recorded over the weekend.
Stuart Hughes is the councillor in charge of Devon's roads, he said: "We had a lot of calls in the network operations control centre in Exeter.
"I believe they recieved somewhere in the region of 700 calls, 300 of those were regarding trees that were down and I can't ever - in my time of being a county councillor - where we've had so many trees down created by one storm."
Bill revans is the leader of Somerset Council, where staff have been helping with the clean and storm response all weekend. We asked what will happen next year - if they continue as planned - to cut hundreds of jobs to save money.
He said "Inevitably if we've got fewer staff then there may be a change to how we have to work. That might mean that staff are reallocated when something happens but the majority of staff that are impacted by the changes won't be frontline staff.
Train services in parts of England and Wales remain disrupted following Storm Darragh, with several lines closed due to fallen trees and debris.
Great Western Railway said passengers should "not attempt to travel" between Swansea and Carmarthen until at least noon, or on the Looe, St Ives and Gunnislake branch lines in Cornwall until at least 11am.
The Barnstaple and Okehampton branch lines in Devon have now reopened following storm damage, and services have resumed on the Falmouth branch line in Cornwall.
A wedding couple in Somerset were told at the last minute on Saturday that their venue had to cancel because of the storm. In the end they were welcomed into a Somerset weatherspoons at Burnham-on Sea where the families enjoyed a reception - and the venue itself was widely praised online with some saying it might not be the dream, venue but at least they were together.
Over the weekend some other venues in North Devon also had to evacuate guests as a result of storm damage and parts of the roofing came down into exmouth's pedestrianised Strand area.
Up and down the South West, recovery work continues in the wake of Storm Darragh.
Around a dozen flood alerts - and one flood warning - remains in force by the Environment Agency, with people up and down our region hit with high water levels in the wake of the storm.
There's great news over at Wiltshire's Longleat Safari Park, though, which was forced to call off its Festival of Light over the weekend.
Automatic refunds were put in place for guests who had booked to see The Festival of Light, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.
Scott Ashman, Head of Operations, said: “We are grateful for all the messages of support and the understanding shown by guests whose visits were cancelled over the weekend due to Storm Darragh. Safety is and always will be our priority and we are fortunate that we didn’t experience any injuries to staff or animals.
“Our teams have been working hard to make the site safe as well as securing and repairing the lanterns for The Festival of Light to ensure they are as spectacular as they were before Storm Darragh hit. We were fortunate that only one lantern – Romeo and Juliet – has been damaged beyond repair.
“Refunds from the weekend are still being processed and this will continue as a priority over the next couple of days. We hope the majority of people will be able to find new dates to visit us.”
Met Office meteorologist Liam Eslick said: "Storm Darragh has now moved its way off towards the south east, so things are going to start to settle down over the next couple of days.
"But it is still going to remain quite blustery, especially for south and south east of England, for the next day at least."