Éowyn

Tonight, Ireland and the UK are battening down the hatches for Storm Éowyn, with a RED warning for danger to life and property in place for the whole of the island of Ireland, and for the Scottish cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Éowyn is a name I first encountered 50 years ago, when I was introduced to Tolkien's epic Lord of the Rings. She was a shield maiden, a horse woman of great courage. Éowyn was involved in the slaying of the Nazgûl at the gates of Minas Tirith, together with the hobbit Meriadoc Brandybuck.

The Éowyn that is now headed our way could be said to be riding the Nazgûl from the gates of Minas Morgul, headed for battle at Minas Tirith - taking a bit of poetic license with Tolkien's narrative here. However, Tolkien afficionados know what happened to the Morgul King - I referenced it above.

Stay safe.

11 January 2005

Twenty years ago today, 11th January started as your usual winter's day in the Islands. But when darkness fell, the wind rose to a screaming crescendo. Stornoway was battered by 100 mph winds, the old school I was staying in at South Lochs shook under the onslaught. Blue flashing lights across the water in Laxay indicated that police had closed the A859 to Tarbert, after a busdriver reported a sheep flying past his window. Power went off for 48 hours in my location, up to six days in nearby Sildenis. We all hunkered down in darkness, waiting for the storm to blow itself out. 

The next morning, 9 am. Phew, that was a bad one. Roof off here, trees down in the Lews Castle Grounds, boats wrecked at Newton. You got any damage? 

News began to filter north from South Uist. Five members of the same family missing out of Lionacuidhe, on the South Ford. They had fled towards the causeway in two cars, but never arrived. As the winds abated, a search of the Ford, the channel between South Uist and Benbecula, yielded all the missing. Lost to a storm surge the evening before. 

I can never bear to see the faces of the two wee ones lost that night. Or those if their parents and grandfather. 

I'll just post the link to the news report. 

RIP.

11 January 2005

Eighteen years ago today, a violent storm struck the Outer Hebrides. Gusts reached 134 mph or 216 km/h at Castlebay, and 100 mph or 160 km/h in Stornoway. As darkness fell, after 4 o'clock, hapless pedestrians in the centre of Stornoway struggled to make headway along the streets, but some hostelries would not open their doors to them. If memory serves, one or two people sustained injuries. 

At the time, I was staying in Cearsiadar, a hamlet 10 miles south of Stornoway as the gull flies, 22 miles by road. The power went off at 6.20pm, and did not come back on for 48 hours. At Sildenis, a few miles west of Ciarsiadar, the electricity remained offline for six days. I watched across Loch Erisort, hidden in the darkness, as flashing blue lights emerged on the main Stornoway to Tarbert road. A busdriver, heading for the district of South Lochs, reported a sheep flying past his windscreen at Laxay. The police thereupon closed the road. The night was filled with the sound of the wind roaring, although the silence on the radiowaves was deafening and scary. Only the signal of BBC Radio Scotland on 810 kHz, mediumwave, continued. The island based transmitters all went offline because electricity pylons, feeding power from Harris north to Lewis, were blown down like so many matchsticks. Even the main site at Eitsal, outside the village of Achmore, was not functioning. Roofs were blown off buildings, a line of trees in Balallan was flattened. Trees in the Lews Castle Grounds at Stornoway fell down, some blocking the main road into town from the south. For many days afterwards, the Grounds had to be closed to walkers out of concern for their safety. 

A lot of damage, a lot of inconvenience. When I was finally able to travel into town on the 13th, people were relieved, as it could have been so much worse. Well, it actually was worse than damage and inconvenience. 

Word began to seep out of the Southern Isles that five members of one family had been reported missing the morning after the storm. They had set off from their home in Lionacuidhe, South Uist, for Benbecula. They fled in terror at the wind, the pebbles being hurled against the windows and walls and the fearing encroachment by the sea nearby. I know the road they travelled, I drove down it one July evening four years later. The road runs parallel to the South Ford, which separates South Uist and Benbecula. To the south lies the large inland Loch Bì. That night, the stormforce winds blew the waters of the loch northwards, until they met the outflow under the road linking Lionacuidhe and Iochdar. It is only a narrow culvert, and the loch is large. The road runs on eastwards until it meets the main spinal route through Uist, the A865, which crosses the South Ford via a causeway, a solid barrier with only a few culverts to allow the flowing of the tides. That night, the tide rose through the channel and met the barrier, and combined with the flood from Loch Bì to cause a stormsurge which swept across the road from Lionacuidhe. It swept away the two cars carrying the family of five, a grandfather, his daughter and son-in-law, and the younger couple's young children. They were all eventually found on the shores of the South Ford, their lives claimed by the storm. 

In my 18 years in the Outer Hebrides, I have experienced many gales and storms. The storm of January 11th, 2005, remains vivid in my memory, haunted by the images of the two young children as they smile out of the BBC news item that reported their demise. I cannot bear to post the actual images in this blogpost.

11 January

 This date in 2005 has gone down in the history of the Western Isles with a black edge. It is the day a violent storm struck, carrying winds gusting in excess of 200 km/h or 125 mph. Damage was extensive, but far worse than that was the loss of life. Five members of one family, a grandfather, two parents and two of their children drowned in the South Ford, the inlet that divides the islands of South Uist and Benbecula. The winds had driven up the waters of the inland Loch Bi, which rose to meet the flooding tide in the South Ford at a causeway bridge. Crossing it at the time were two cars, which were swept away. All five occupants perished. They had just fled a house at Lionacuidhe, which was being pelted by seaspray and pebbles, whipped up by the storm. In a panic, they had probably decided to try to reach Benbecula - but never reached there. 

This is a picture I took in 2009 in the area. 

January 2005 storm - In Memoriam

 On Tuesday 11 January 2005, we were about to experience the worst storms in 50 years. At 3pm, exactly as forecast, the wind whipped up to hurricane force. Powerlines went down all over the island, leaving people without electricity for anything between a few hours and up to 6 days. Property damage was widespread and severe.

Staying in South Lochs at the time, I lost power at 6.20 that evening, not to get it back for 48 hours. From the darkness, I could see blue flashing lights across Loch Erisort. Later, it became clear that this was the police, closing the A859 Stornoway to Tarbert road. A lorry driver had reported as sheep flying past his windscreen. The driver on the last bus into South Lochs had a terrifying time keeping his vehicle on the straight and narrow.

By 6pm, people in Stornoway were physically blown off their feet. Some sustained injuries as a result. Trees in the Castle Grounds were falling like match sticks, boats were ripped off their moorings and tossed onto the harbour wall at the Newton Basin. Flooding affected the town centre.
Down in the Southern Isles, a family of five found their home in Iochdar, South Uist, being pounded by pebbles and flying spray from the nearby sea. A flurry of phonecalls arranged a move across the causeway into Benbecula. Two cars would carry the grandfather, two parents and two young children across the few miles.

Dawn broke at 9 o’clock. The islanders, from Barra to Lewis, were mentioning that it had been a particularly nasty one, and people were comparing notes what damage everyone had sustained. A phonecall disturbed the sense of relief. People were reported missing in South Uist. A search party started combing the South Ford, which separates Benbecula from South Uist. The bodies of five people were found in the course of the next few days. They were those of a grandfather, two parents and their young children.

The funeral service, a few days later, was attended by 1,500 people, one out of every three islanders in the Southern Isles. Only 500 could actually enter the church, the rest followed the service outside, as it was relayed through loudspeakers.

Total damage was estimated to be worth £15 million, including severe storm damage to the causeway system stretching from Berneray to Eriskay. Repairs are only now being carried out.

This post is dedicated to the memory of those lost in the Iochdar tragedy.

Storms

February is turning into a stormy month. Last weekend, we were hammered by the fore-runner to Storm Ciara, which left a trail of destruction across much of the United Kingdom. This weekend, it will be Storm Dennis. Last Saturday (8th), winds gusted at 80 mph. Ciara blew at 95 mph in Wales on Sunday. It was followed by snow and floods. Dennis is winding itself up in mid-Atlantic, and will bring hurricane force winds to Iceland. Its lowest central pressure will be around the 920 mbar point, which is close to the all-time low of 916 mbar, observed in 1993. On Sunday morning, the barometer in Stornoway dropped to 948 mbar. The barometer pictured below is showing 0.1 inch too low; it should be showing 28 inches.

This week also saw springtides, exacerbated by low barometric pressure (which causes storm surge) and the very windy weather. The high tide on Tuesday morning rose to 5.3 metres in Stornoway, which prompted some overtopping of quays and river flooding between Bayhead and the Porter's Lodge. It was sandbags at dawn, but they were not required to prevent damage to property.

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