Fourteen years ago today

Fourteen years ago today, a storm battered the Western Isles of Scotland. I well remember the night, staying in the Ravenspoint Centre in Cearsiadar. Power went off at 6.20pm, and was not restored for 48 hours. A lot of damage was done to property, from Barra to the Butt of Lewis, where gusts of wind upto 130 mph (if not more) occurred. 

However, the storm also claimed lives. Five members, out of three generations, of one family drowned when the two cars they were travelling in were swept away in a storm surge in the South Ford, between Benbecula and South Uist. They had fled their shoreline house at Lionacuidhe, as it was being battered by flying spray and pebbles. Their escape route was a road, paralleling the sea. As they crossed a bridge over the outflow from the inland Loch Bì, the waters from the loch were swept up by force 11 winds, combining with a tidal surge from the sea, which took them away to their deaths. The pictures of the smiling faces of the youngsters, see the below webpage, still haunt me. May they all rest in peace.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4170135.stm