Thursday 3rd February, Gale force wind's hammered the Isle's all night and into Friday morning, at 11.30pm there was an almighty crash and Jill called out to ask what had happened, on looking out the window I could just about see the end of the garden and it looked as if the back gate had blown wide open ,so I went down stairs and into the garden to close the gate only to find that it was not there any more, the wind had torn it from it's hinges and it was now laying in the road one hundred feet away. After recovering the gate which measures six feet by three feet, I secured it in the garden before making a hasty retreat. I never slept much for the rest of the night. The next morning the wind had dropped a bit ,and I made a quick check of the outside of the house for damage, apart from a bit of rendering from the chimney breast all was well.
The Churchill Barriers were closed all night, as the waves were coming right over the top, they were not reopened until 8.30 . With the help of Gale force SW winds the sea had reached the top of the slipway and was starting to enter our road, fortunately high tide was at 10pm and the water never came any higher.
Below ,extract from The Orcadian Newspaper.
After a night of severe winds, transport to and from the county was disrupted on Friday morning.
The highest reported wind speed overnight came from Hammars Hill, in Evie, where a top speed of over 122 miles per hour was recorded. According to the Met Office the maximum at Kirkwall Airport was around 73 miles per hour, with gusts over 100 miles per hour also reported in Stronsay.
125 mph gust is on par with the Great Storm of 1953.
After a night of hurricane force winds, the Hamnavoe battles her way out of Hoy Sound on Friday morning.
