UK holiday goers have said goodbye to the great British Summer and hello to Hurricane Bertha
This weekend saw the arrival of the after-effects of Hurricane Bertha. The storm, which started in the Caribbean, passing over the Bahamas and up the East coast of the US has now made its way to us across the Atlantic – and don’t we know it.
The storm, mainly affecting the South-West coast of the UK, has caused appalling driving conditions, particularly for caravanners making their way to the South-West coast.
Us Brits are nothing if not resilient, however, with caravanner, Jim Parks, telling The Guardian: “It’s only a bit of sogginess. What harm can it do?” “We’ve got our bucket and spade. We’re going to go and make some sandcastles whatever the weather does,” Mancunian Jim continued as he and his family visited Weston-super-Mare, an area particularly affected by the storm. Nevertheless, for those who remember the effects of the storm St Jude last October and the storms of January and February this year, the warnings from officials of flash floods and high winds, predicted to reach 70mph, are certainly not welcome. Winds have already been recorded as reaching 40mph with more fierce winds predicted.
The Environment Agency has reported that rain moving north-eastwards across England and Wales during the weekend may be heavy enough to cause some surface water flooding in places. Flooding of properties and parts of communities as well as travel disruption may occur in places, which makes us grit our teeth in the hope that our caravans and motorhomes withstand the battering they may receive from both the wind and rain.
Meanwhile, in the North-East, a caravan park in Scarborough took its toll as flood waters swept the site. Fire-fighters had the task of removing the several thousand litres of water from the park yesterday evening.
The storm’s effects, while being highly inconvenient and unwelcome in August of all months, thus far have been minimal in comparison to what we have seen in the past year. Let’s hope it doesn’t reach those standards. We’d like to know: have any of our readers experienced towing trouble because of this nasty weather?
