Lucky escapes as Arwen hits South Wales
THE first named storm of the winter left a deadly trail of destruction in its wake this weekend after blasting the nation with winds of more than 80mph.
Across the UK, Storm Arwen claimed the lives of at least three people, while in Wales thousands were left without power, travel was disrupted and buildings were damaged.
Major roads across Wales were shut as high winds lashed the nation and the Severn Estuary, while a wind speed of 81mph was recorded at Aberporth in Ceredigion.
Filming was halted on I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here at its Conwy base in Gwrych Castle, after the storm damaged its production base.
All train lines were blocked between Cardiff and Swansea on Saturday due to a tree being blown onto the main line, and Transport for Wales suspended the majority of its rail services. At one point, more than 13,000 people in Wales were left without electricity.
Meanwhile, a pub manager believes she would have lost her life had she been a few steps closer when Storm Arwen toppled a tree.
Cheryl Pound was smoking a cigarette at 1.32am yesterday under the outside shelter of The Star on Market Street, Bridgend. Then high winds felled a huge tree which landed inches from Cheryl in the pub garden.
The 55-year-old said: “The pub had shut and I went out for a cigarette before finishing cleaning up. The next thing I get attacked by a tree.
“That cigarette saved my life,” she laughed. “I’m not superstitious at all. But there must be something up there. I think if I wasn’t under the shelter I would definitely be dead.”
A less severe yellow warning for wind was in place across the whole of Wales until 6pm yesterday.
One incident left a man shocked to find a caravan overturned in his garden after the high winds blew it from his neighbour’s property 15 doors away.
Kyle Johns from Cwmbran was met with the shocking sight at Five Locks Close.
Miraculously, nobody was hurt, and damage was caused to his property or to the caravan as it wound up in his garden.
Posting the photo on Facebook, Kyle quipped: “If you live in Cwmbran and you’ve woken up and noticed your caravan is missing, it’s currently upside down outside our house please contact me to arrange collection.
“What a sight to see at 12.30am, windy is an understatement.”
Kyle said the neighbours were quite “embarrassed” about the incident but all had been resolved.
He said: “It was stressful. Crazy weather we are having – all sorted now as was local luckily. I definitely didn’t expect this.
“It was only the street over but atleast 15 houses in between us so it must have gone with a whoosh.”
Elsewhere, a road known locally as Cymer Hill in Rhondda Cynon Taf was temporarily closed yesterday after tiles had been blown off the roof of a house overnight.
The police cordon was in place on A4233 High Street in both directions from Ton Hywel to Heol Eurwen Davies, Porth, as the road was closed to clear the debris before reopening later.
One neighbour said: “You couldn’t hear the tiles hitting the ground over the wind, it was awful last night so dangerous.”
CARDIFF University’s rugby team braved the gales of Storm Arwen this weekend running through the city centre in just their swimming trunks to raise money for charity.
A video showed dozens of team memebers out for a morning jog along The Hayes in Cardiff on Saturday, despite the gales and freezing temperatures.
Wales was battered by over 80mph winds on Friday night into Saturday morning, with the weather causing chaos on roads and public transport up and down the country.
Nevertheless, the team took part in the run as part of their Movember fundraising efforts, of which they have already raised over £8,000.
The team’s fundraising page has 99 members attached to it, and by Saturday they had already raised £8,900 by running over 668km between them.
Movember is an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men’s suicide.
Posting on the team’s fundraising page, team captain Nathan Friend said: “No one should lose a mate, brother, dad, husband, or boyfriend to bad mental health. Look after the men in your life!
“I’ve watched some good mates go through some serious issues and I’d love to see more support there, and being more aware so that we can all talk more.”Over the past few years I’ve had my own battles with mental health, which are ongoing. If it wasn’t for the support I’ve received from my mates, God knows where I’d be. I want to be there for them and I hope this can help the bigger issues in society.”
The team are hoping to raise £10,000 for the charity and with a few days left they are not far off their goal. However, they have already beaten last year’s efforts which raised £6,586.