On the 18th February 2022, Storm Eunice slammed into the UK with record wind speeds, bringing with it a storm surge that coincided with high tide to pummel the coast with enormous waves. In Aberystwyth, the strongest wind speeds arrived a few hours after the high tide, so the overall damage was less than Storm Barra, which hit two months prior.
However, as Storm Eunice's onslaught was during the day, I managed to capture the above images, all screenshots from this video:
While the damage from the waves was nowhere near Storm Barra's, the wind damage I personally experienced was much higher. After filming the waves along the whole seafront, the wind began to pick up and I recorded a gust of 52.6 mph in the centre of Aberystwyth. Around mid-day, the wind speeds began to increase too high for my liking, making it difficult to stand upright in places so I headed home.
At home, the lights began to flicker as the wind roared around the house. The fences and trees in the garden rocked and bent with such force that I was sure they would give way and break, so I set up my GoPro filming through the sea-spray salt precipitated on my window in case something dramatic should happen. Low and behold, around half an hour later, the massive fully-leaved conifer at the bottom of the garden snapped and fell, crushing two parked cars:
There was also relatively significant damage to my house, with multiple slate roof tiles and a large wooden facia torn from the roof and sent to the ground. Not brilliant with further storms forecast throughout the week.
All in all a very severe storm, the most severe I think I've experienced in terms of wind-speeds. It will certainly be remembered.
Comments