Well the big storm hit us at 8.00pm Thursday evening, one minute there was a good wind blowing and then the suddenly it increased ten fold . It was only a 3m tide, which normally is not a problem, but the wind increased to 100mph, whipping up the sea, waves were hitting the houses in front of us full on and then hitting us. I have seen waves coming over the top of Chesil beach before but never saw waves coming horizontal before. The noise was deafening and the water was washing up and down the road, but did not enter the house. The next morning the wind had abated but was still quite strong, I took Buster for his walk, the roads were covered with seaweed and debris, All the stone slabs in front of Cromerty Square had been lifted by the waves. In front of the Bellevue Public House, the council had piled up all the debris, the pile was about twenty feet long and ten feet high. Not structural damage occurred, a few roof tiles & a few garage doors, two or three houses were flooded but no one was injured. I was told that the Pentalina took a battering, the ferry was tied to the jetty with four two-inch ropes and one, inch and a quarter steel cable each end, the two steel cables snapped at the height of the storm. The storm brought down power cables in some areas and about Four hundred houses were without electricity for most of Friday. Talking to some of the locals later, they all said they could not remember a storm with winds as strong as Thursday nights.
