After the storm is over
Torrential rain and gales of storm force 10 wreaked havoc throughout Kintyre last week.
Campbeltown was flooded in several areas, the worst hit being Lochend Street, High Street and the Esplanade. Last Thursday, the loch’s level rose to one of the highest seen.
The Esplanade near the War Memorial was littered with refuse from the sea. And traffic there was brought to a standstill. Chimney pots and TV aerials were ripped from roofs and strewn over Campbeltown’s streets.
Part of the road on the seaward side of Low Askomil began to subside. A Low Askomil resident Miss Dorothy Grant said: “Four or five holes started to appear in the roadway near the sea wall.”
The Met Office at RAF Machrihanish recorded rainfall this month so far as 107.3mm.
The highest rainfall recorded at the office was in November 1969; that month averaged 150mm of rain.
“‘So,” said a spokesman, “if the rain falls as heavily in the next two weeks, it would easily break our highest recorded figure. The gale which was recorded as Beaufort Scale storm force 10 (mean speed) did, however, gust at much higher speeds.”
Campbeltown’s fishermen were badly hit by the terrible weather, as the wind meant hardly any of them could leave the harbour.
Most building work ground to a halt in the town due to the severe gales.
Post Office engineers were kept busy throughout the week. A spokesman said: “We have had a lot of trouble with our wires being blown down. We even had a cable washed out to sea near Tarbert in a particularly high sea. There haven’t been any major disasters but we have been very busy.”
Hydro Electric Board engineers had 50 separate incidents during the storm. “This,” said a spokesman, “involved around 150 consumers. But everything was rectified the same day. The only real serious mishap was a broken high voltage pole.”