The Sunset Coast Hit By High Winds
Thursday, 18 January 2022

Many towns and  villages across England, survived an onslaught of high winds on 18 January.  During the course of Thursday, 18 January, 80-100 mile per hour winds lashed out across the UK causing power cuts, damage and debris in their wake.

The Chestnut House, Hunstanton Road, Heacham

In Heacham, around 2.30pm in the afternoon a large tree (Ash?) in the grounds of Homemead snapped and fell across the width of Hunstanton Road and landed on The Chestnut House.  The Fire Brigade attended soon after the incident and closed off access to Hunstanton Road. 

Right:
Mangled railings
outside
The Chestnut House

Left:
One branch of the tree
filled the
road

The impact left the owner rather shaken up and the property itself sustained considerable damage.  This included broken windows, guttering, roof and rails to the exterior of the building.  On initial - amateur - investigation it appears that the damage is relatively minor compared to what it could have been.

By mid morning on Friday, the tree was still in its resting place and the site was visited by a member of the Highways Department who advised that responsibility for clear up operations would lie jointly with the Highways team and the owner of the tree, Mr Tony Boucher.  It is quite possible the clearing up may take some time.

Right:
Damage to part of the roof and underlying brickwork

Left:
The tree damaged
the fence on
exiting the grounds
of Homemead

Hunstanton Road is picturesque with a vast array of attractive tall trees.  Regrettably when winds are this severe the likelihood is that similar scenes could well occur again.

These pictures
show the
tree extended
over the full
width of
Hunstanton Road

Below you see another fallen tree in Gymkyhana Way.  It appears to have missed the bungalows.  Photographer, Brian reported that he had PC and telephone difficulties as a result of the storm.