Western Daily Press (Saturday)
10,000 flee their homes as bomb safely removed
MORE than 10,000 people had to leave their homes in Plymouth yesterday for a massive bomb disposal operation.
Shortly after 5.30pm residents were finally able to return to their homes after an unexploded Second World War bomb was successfully removed by a military disposal team, Plymouth City Council said.
The device, which was dropped by the Luftwaffe in April 1941, was being taken by convoy to the Torpoint Ferry slipway to be disposed of at sea.
The Ministry of Defence said it was one of the biggest such operations since the end of the war.
In a statement, the council said: “We have been notified by the military that operation has been a success and the bomb has been removed.
“We can now start removing the cordon so people who have been evacuated can return to their homes.”
The authority said 10,320 people and 4,300 properties fell within yesterday’s cordon.
That was a huge increase from the originally planned cordon, which included 3,250 people and some 1,219 properties.
The device was uncovered on Tuesday from a garden in the Keyham area of the city, near the Devonport dockyards which were heavily bombed during the war.
At about 1pm yesterday, a 300m cordon was thrown up around the route from St Michael Avenue to the Torpoint Ferry slipway.
This was in addition to the 300m cordon that already existed around St Michael Avenue.
Everyone living or working inside the new cordon, including at schools and Devonport Dockyard, had to move out from 2pm.
This was in addition to the 3,250 people who were already moved from their homes when an initial 200m cordon was set up on Tuesday and then extended on Thursday.
The military convoy took only 20 minutes to carry the bomb from the house where it was discovered to the water’s edge.
Police vehicles were used to enforce the 300m cordon around the route on which the bomb was transported.
Boat users were warned the 300m cordon would exist on the water too.
As the Western Daily Press went to print it was expected the 500kg bomb would be disposed of by blowing up the explosive underwater.
Superintendent Phil Williams, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said the decision to move the bomb rather than try to deal with it in situ was ratified by the military yesterday morning.
He said: “They have identified this as being the least impactful, and the element of risk is the lowest.”
Giles Perritt, assistant chief executive Plymouth City Council, earlier said more than 1,000 staff and officers were involved in the operation to safely remove the bomb.
Olivia Elliott, whose dining room was only one metre away from where the bomb was found, said they had to “totally gut” their home to prepare for an explosion.
Posting about her traumatic experience over the last few days, she wrote: “Words can’t even begin to describe the rollercoaster of emotions and turmoil we have been through these past few days.
“We’ve had meetings with the MoD to prepare us for the worst, which meant we have totally had to gut our house yesterday with 25 military loading up removal vans, which as you can imagine was overwhelming in itself.”