What a weekend the 7th and 8th of December was. I’m sure that many had it worse. Mid Wales was certainly party central of bad boy Darragh. I arrived at Cefn Garthenor late on the Friday night, with the wind picking up. By daybreak a tree was down across the yard, narrowly missing a one of the old stone barns, and tin roofing sheets were lifting off the more modern barns. At 8.29 the lights went out and the phone line went down.
It turned out that a pair of trees had come down along the ½ mile track leading to the house and yard, taking the power and phone lines down as well as blocking any chance of driving out. It was simply too windy to go and take a good look around in the morning. It was not so much the wind itself as the flying debris, with numerous roofing sheets blowing around like huge flying guillotines. Just down the hill, Robert and Julia’s polytunnel (used for the sheep during lambing) was ripped to shreds by a big 20’ x 4’ sheet from their cattle barn. And when presented with a gap, the wind really can do huge damage, ripping out nails, screws and lifting huge structures.
Those fallen spruce trees, part of a small plantation along some the track, had also smashed into the pig sanctuary barn, which must have scared the hell out of the rescued animals. This will have been common throughout the areas caught in the storm, keeping in mind that at this time of year the vast majority of cattle are kept in barns. It can’t be much fun, trapped in a tight space with horrific noises all around as sheets are ripped from the roof. My cattle are out year-round, and from the Nofence tracking I can see that they prefer to shelter by hedges in this weather … this makes sense as it is much safer than hiding behind a tree as well as providing a better wind break.
I took my first look around at dusk on Saturday afternoon at which stage the wind had subdued a little. The cows and pigs were fine, but there were a good number of trees down, including one of my favourites, a huge old oak on the bridleway. The main trunk remains, but the crown and some major limbs are gone. The wind direction was unusual, which is why I think there was so much damage. Trees and barns are set to deal with the prevailing wind, normally coming from the south west. Darragh came from the west and nothing was prepared for that.
Trees falling across tracks are one thing, but what can be more problematic is them coming down across fences. And we have just installed a spanking new fence to create the beaver enclosure. Three spruce trees had come down over the southern fence line. So far, it has suffered relatively little damage as the trunks bridged it, with the root ball holding up one end and a hedge the other. However, if you take a chainsaw to them, you will have problem as the bridge will collapse onto the fence and destroy it. Props or perhaps a digger are required. And, right now, getting any contractor is tricky given the extend of the damage in the area.
Nearer to home, the wind had lifted the roof of my most modern barn and with it had come one of the blockwork columns, clearly better connected to the roof than the wall below. The wind had pushed that column over to create a very scary angle, only just supported by the wall below. A few more centimetres and the column would have been in in fresh air and the whole barn would have collapsed. I could see the bit of roof that needed fixing down but could not risk going up a ladder to do given the gusts still around. We were meant to me castrating the boy calves, born earlier in the year, on the Monday, but (a) Mervyn the vet could not get up the track and (b) I suspect he’d have been nervous working in that barn! The boys may be thanking Darragh!
Rob Needham from The Beaver Trust braved the weather on Sunday … the track was still blocked so I went down to the fallen tree to pick him up after he’d clambered over. Overall, the fence got good marks, but I need his advice on grills for the water inlets and outlets. I am very relieved!
With no electricity I was reliant on the wood burner for hear, hot water and cooking, plus the tank of water in the loft. The oil-fired boiler won’t fire without electricity and the borehole pump also relies on an electric motor. I was glad to see Jess, our horticulturalist, and John, general farm hand, on Monday morning. The wind had calmed (a few more trees down overnight on Saturday) and we could begin a clear up … largely making roofs safe and providing temporary support for that crazy column.
At 3.30 on Monday afternoon, Western Power got the power back up and cleared the track. We had been instructed not to cut the tree as it was potentially live (I am pretty sure it was not given the people passing over it suffered no ill effect, but perhaps that might have changed had movement caused a failure in the insulation). However, the main issue was that the trees were massive and cutting without appropriate kit and skill could have done much more damage to the barn as well as being dangerous for someone of my modest chainsaw skills (the reason I only have a 14” blade … it keeps me in check!)
A couple of weeks later and there is still a lot of clearing up to be done …
Please excuse the photos ... the SD card on my phone died, taking with it all the images over December ... these were rescued from WhatsApp where the resolution is reduced.
コメント