Published on Friday 18 February 2022
High winds caused major disruption across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole on Friday (18 February 2022) as Storm Eunice hit the area. Weather warnings remain in place and residents are being advised to continue to take extra care.
BCP Council teams have been working throughout the day to deal with the impacts of the storm.
Gusts as high as 99mph have been reported at a weather station in Southbourne and despite this, BCP Council quickly responded to challenges throughout the day including:
- Dealing with more than 140 reports of falling trees
- Keeping highways clear
- Sharing information about school closures
- Responding to flooding and high winds in coastal areas
Teams are still working through a number of storm-related incidents, BCP Council asks residents for their patience while it deals with the backlog.
Residents are being urged to continue to stay away from the coastline where further flooding and tidal surges are expected. The Environment Agency continues to have flood alerts in place for Poole Harbour and Christchurch Harbour tomorrow morning.
The worst of the wind gusts are now slowly receding to the east but a Met Office amber weather warning for BCP is still in place until 2100 tonight (Friday).
All bin collections across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole were suspended for safety reasons on Friday but we are working hard to address disruption to refuse and recycling collections in the wake of Storm Eunice.
Schools were advised to close, with most shutting their doors and switching to remote learning. A handful of schools, mostly special schools, remained open.
Chris Saunders, from Incident Command and Director of Destination and Culture at BCP Council said: "We are pleased to see the majority of residents listened to our guidance and stayed at home but today certainly reminded us to respect Mother Nature.
"At one stage this morning at the height of the winds – we had reports of trees falling every 10 seconds.
"Our teams in Highways and Parks have been doing a fantastic job since the early hours, going over and above to clear reports of trees fallen, and clearing the road network. Thanks to the amazing response from our teams including the Coastal teams too, but it’s not over, there’s still more work to do. There’s the risk that some trees or branches which have been battered all day, might still fall so be careful when going out and about.
"A clear up operation is underway to prioritise the worst of any blockages on roads or pathways. We urge residents to bear with us while we get through all the reports of incidents that need attending."
Tonight – the weather is still expected to cause some problems with some wintry showers including hail, sleet and snow and our gritter teams will be out in force to treat the roads ahead of the falling temperatures and wintry weather.
For the weekend – further windy weather is expected – but although not as bad as Storm Eunice – it’s still enough to warrant a wind weather warning for Saturday across parts of SW England. These winds may hamper recovery operations.
All the details on additional bin collections are listed on our website.