Petersfield is faced with a rare red warning for wind and a major incident is declared by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Local Resilience Forum.
It means significant disruption because of extremely strong winds.
The met office currently predicts the winds will start to ease from about 2 o’clock onwards.
Power
The power has stayed on in Petersfield Town centre through the morning with just a few glitches but parts of West Liss, Liss Forest and Greatham suffered an power cut earlier and some homes in the area remain without power.
SSEN says engineers it could take until 11 tonight to get everyone back on.
Some homes in and close to Queens Road are without power to the west of Petersfield. We’ve also received reports of the power out in parts of Ramsdean. There’s a further power cut in Rogate and Durleighmarsh, and Alison reports a water outage in Rake.
Roads
The advice from the national highways is only go out if you have to.
Major roads around Petersfield are flowing well with no reported problems on the A3 or the A272
Stoner Hill is blocked in two places by fallen trees, and there are delays on the road between Petersfield and Chichester at Nursted.
In Petersfield, a tree is down on Pulen’s Lane, by the crossroads with Durford Road and Heath Road. And Moggs Mead is closed because of water works close to Bepton Down.
And delays continue on the Causeway in Petersfield because of the ongoing gas works there.
Trains
South Western Rail services are suspended until at least 6pm.
SWR and Network Rail strongly advise against trying to travel.
They say
We would like to apologise to our customers for the impact this will have on their journeys, but – as always – our primary concern is the safety and welfare of customers and colleagues out on the network
The Sea
Further afield there’s disruption to the ferry services serving the isle of wight –
The Lymington-Yarmouth car ferry service is currently suspended. Check with WightLink before you travel on services from Portsmouth – and on the island the trains are not running today between Ryde pier head and the esplanade.
Also on the coast there’s a flood warning in place for Langstone and Emsworth. The environment agency says the Ship Inn, Royal Oak and Langstone High Street all face flooding. The weather took today’s high tide up by 67 centimetres more than usual – at a massive 5.38 metres.
In Emsworth, waves are expected to overtop the promenade and the agency has installed flood protection boards.
Schools
Many local schools are closed today.
It comes after advice from Hampshire County Council.
Among them, Herne Junior, Steep Primary School and Sheet Primary.
At TPS, there are no live lessons but staff are posting work to Teams for their classes.
East Meon Primary is closed. Churcher’s College has staff at building to look after students who travelled to the campus but lessons are online.
In Liphook, Bohunt School is closed.
Greatham Primary is closed, as is Clanfield Junior School
Langrish Primary school, Catherington C of E infant school and Liss infants – also closed today
Elsewhere
The Queen Elizabeth Country Park is closed today, as with all parks in Hampshire.
Petersfield Museum tells us its closed today due to the extreme weather conditions and the danger they represent to both visitors and staff.
That affects Museum itself and the Courtyard Café. They hope to reopen tomorrow.
At Sky Park Farm The ‘farm experience’ is closed today due to the adverse weather. However, the farm shop & restaurant are currently open as normal. The animals are all fine – the deer have been fed & will take themselves off to somewhere they feel safe.
East Hampshire District Council says, perhaps surprisingly, that bin collections will be going ahead as scheduled today. They ask that if you are home and able to, please try to retrieve your bin as soon as possible after it’s been emptied to prevent it blowing away.
A number of shops have chosen not to open in Petersfield Town Centre and the Free Shop Friday at the railway station is off today.
Help to update this information
If we’re not saying what you’re seeing just let us know and help update this information for everyone.We’re live on the phone lines to take your updates. Call Petersfield 5 55 500, that’s 01730 5 55 500, email team@shineradio.uk or you can tweet us ‘at shineradio’
