Widespread disruption as Storm Ciaran batters the county

KentOnline / KMTV

Wind speeds of nearly 90 miles per hour have knocked over many trees which is leaving emergency teams working around the clock to keep our roads clear.

Transcript

00:00 Storm Kieran certainly packed a punch. Wind gusts reached as high as 86mph on the coast

00:09 this morning. At first light, we could see the extent of the damage caused overnight

00:15 by the Amber Alert storm. Fences, wheelie bins and tiles were all smashed. But it could

00:23 have been worse. The ferocious winds of Storm Kieran blew out the front windows of these

00:28 two buses, which were subsequently abandoned. Commuters had to face surface water flooding

00:35 on their way to work, whilst dealing with diversions as emergency crews responded to

00:41 multiple reports of fallen trees. Some of those even hitting power lines and knocking

00:46 out power for hundreds of homes across the county. One tree even cut out the broadband

00:53 of this local councillor. It was clear within 90 minutes. So I reported at 6.30, they were

01:00 on site at 8 o'clock and by 9.30 they finished the work. Social media has been active. One

01:06 of the small problems is that a lot of people have lost their broadband due to cables going

01:11 down and so communication is more difficult. But I urge everybody to report to the online

01:18 service. It's very efficient. Down at the coast, high tide hit at lunch, bringing about

01:26 powerful waves. Dramatic scenes, but the RNLI urged people not to go too close, but from

01:32 a safe distance, it made a good photo. But those rough seas cancelled cross-ferry services.

01:39 Lorries have been starting to build up all day in Dover and many schools across Dover

01:44 have been closed as well. I think the fact that schools were largely closed in Dover

01:49 and the surrounding areas have meant that there's lots of traffic not on the road, staying

01:53 at home. Tap was put in place kind of around half six this morning. What that's meant is

01:59 there's a large number of lorries that are kind of just parking up in and around the

02:03 Dover area. Today is fine. Today is free flowing and that's a positive. Tomorrow morning rush

02:09 hour might not be quite so positive, unfortunately. And for trains, they're severely impacted

02:16 today, travelling at a blanket 40 miles per hour. At one point we had four trees down

02:24 on the network. There was a trampoline on the tracks, but we've been running fewer trains

02:30 on what we call the classic network, the routes around Kent, around the coast, as opposed

02:36 to that high speed line from Ashford up to London St Pancras. So yes, there have been

02:41 a number of cancellations, which is why we've put out the advice that we have today. And

02:46 it's hoped schedules will be back to normal tomorrow. The amber alert for wind has been

02:51 eased. It finished at midday today, but it's been raining relentlessly. Roads right across

02:58 the county have been flooded, leading to many blocked routes and delayed journeys. In the

03:04 afternoon, flood alerts were coming in thick and fast with the intense rainfall on saturated

03:10 ground putting pressure on river systems right across Kent. They all had over an inch, inch

03:15 and a half of rain across parts of more western Kent. No flood warnings, which is a good thing

03:21 because when we start issuing flood warnings, that's when flooding really is going to start

03:25 happening to people's property. So hopefully, looking at the forecast, there's some showers

03:31 about today and some rain tonight. But tomorrow looks like hopefully we might get a little

03:35 bit of a respite and that will allow things to drain down, surface water to dissipate

03:41 and we're ready for the next lot. For consensus though, Kent got off lightly and lower wind

03:47 speeds into the evening are allowing for urgent repairs to be made. Gabriel Morris for KENYON

03:52 TV in Folkestone.

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