The UK is currently recovering from the effects of Storm Eunice, reminding many fans of Cormoran Strike of the 2014 storms and subsequent floods that hampered the dash to Cornwall in Troubled Blood.
Fortunately this time the storms have not yet been coupled with much rain so flooding is not an issue, but 122 mph winds have been measured on the Isle of Wight. Just as in 2014 the storms have taken up at least half of the television news, and many yards of newsprint.
Storms lashed the Cornish coast, train services were suspended, tons of sand washed off beaches and flooding turned the roads of coastal towns into freezing canals. The Cornish peninsula was temporarily cut off from the rest of England, and while St Mawes had not fared as badly as Mevagissey and Fowey along the coast, sandbags had appeared at the entrances of buildings on the seafront. Waves smashed against the harbour wall.
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Rain fell almost ceaselessly into February. On the fifth, the most savage storm yet hit the south. Thousands of homes lost power, part of the sea wall supporting the London-South west railway line collapsed, swathes of farmland disappeared under flood water, roads became rivers and the nightly news featured fields turned to seas of grey water and houses waist-deep in mud.
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Despite being right in the red zone for storm Eunice, my home town of Llantwit Major has survived pretty much unscathed. A few dozen homes are without power and one of the local stable blocks collapsed and blocked a road. Some trees fell blocking roads and several roofs were damaged including my own. My friend the roofer (always a useful friend to have) tells me that he has fielded over 150 calls since the storm started. We were fortunate that the storm surge occurred about two hours after spring tide or the damage in the Vale of Glamorgan would have been much worse.
Whether the weather be fine, or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold, or whether the weather be hot,
We’ll weather the weather, whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not.Anon
” The Cornish peninsula was temporarily cut off from the rest of England” – fascinating to think of peninsula becoming insular, with some resonances of Lyonesse…
I remember racing floods in a local railway in mid-Wales one summer in the 1980s, trying to cross bridges before they were submerged.