Thanks for doing this - the PM should come down and visit - if this was happening in the South East he would have been here on Friday
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Graham Easterling
Jan 12, 2026, 4:41:29 AMJan 12
to Weather and Climate
Here we are, nearly 4 days on and still thousands of homes, business without power or water. In fact things are still very bleak for some.
The utilities are doing all they can, I think they were taken aback when they arrived on the scene. The water supply issues are largely caused by damage to pipes from large treess falling.
There is now growing discontent concerning absolutely no government assistance in the clear up whatsoever, despite the ferocity of the wind being widely recorded and reported. Poldhu nursing home not only los power & water but had it's roof ripped off. The fragile residents saved by locl help, including temporary accommodation generators etc., but where's the help now! Even most of the road clearance (off the main roads) has been / is being done by farmers.
Andrew George, the local MP has highlighted the issues - from his facebook page,
"I believe the Storm damage has been far more substantial and long-lasting than first thought.
I've now called on the Primeminister and senior Ministers for a national emergency response.
The water supply challenges have been much more substantial than previously understood. Not only was the main supply works taken out of action by power loss, and the replacement generator "developed an unrepairable fault" but the main supply line was substantially damaged by an uprooted tree, which drained the whole system!
Spoke to many others, including locals at Goldsithney. Thousands without power.
Many locations still completely cut off. Including at Lelant where power lines and pines make the road completely impassable. Spoke to Stuart here who now cannot get to his house and has to clamber through a neighbour's garden to get to and fro.
Then at Poldhu Nursing Home (former hotel) where much of the roof has been damaged. As it was built by my grandfather over 125 years ago, I just hope it's no longer in its warranty period!"
That was on 10th, well it has been a weekend, apparently Openreach don't work at weekends either.
This from a recent facebook thread, which gives an idea of the widespread issues and how public feeling is.
Glad I voted Lib Dem after being a long term Labour supporter. Labour have just lost their remaing votes in west Cornwall
Graham
Penzance
Graham Easterling
Jan 13, 2026, 7:19:17 AMJan 13
to Weather and Climate
Still little happening. There are still trees on top of cars and blocking roads even in Penzance. The whole appearance of areas is different.
It now turns out that at one pint 50,000 people had no water, and at least 125,000 had no power during the storms peak, highly concentrated in the west. Many had no power for days.
Cars crushed under trees while nobody seems prepared to help move them when they should be covered by insurance. There'll be sat there for months in that case. Vulnerable people virtually abandoned in inaccessible areas because of fallen trees.
Not a national emergency like like 30,000 homes with no water / low water pressure in the SE.
West Cornwall's Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George has been very vocal in calling for a 'national emergency' response to help communities across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly after the massive devastation caused by the storm.
He has been critical of the Government for granting such a response in East Grinstead in Sussex but not in Cornwall, which was more badly affected. Kent's council has declared a 'major incident' over water cut to homes - about the same number as Cornwall but without the power loss and other devastation that has hit Cornwall. He said yesterday (Monday, January 12):
"I called on our House Speaker to grant me the right to call for a National Emergency response, but instead, he’s granted one for East Grinstead, which has been suffering a water outage across 16,500 homes.
"Now, I have every sympathy for the beleaguered people of East Grinstead and would never seek to diminish the terrible impact this has had and is having on them. But I’m certain the impact of the devastating storm experienced in Cornwall and on Scilly would dwarf that of the poor folk affected in the South East.
Added to this, most of the areas affected by water supply outage have not been able to report or communicate because they had no means of doing so, thanks largely to those higher authorities who turned off the previously functioning analogue telephone system, which has proven to be more resilient following these incidents than the much vaunted digital technologies. If this was impacting the people that matter to the government, they’d have had so much more response from even our armed forces coming out to make sure roads were cleared, houses and businesses had power and all had food and a way to access water!" "Would have thought it appropriate that we were graced with a visit from 'representatives' of the Duchy, but they've been surprisingly quiet too."
Time for Cornish independence, it's now 5 days and it's a shambles for so many.
Graham
Graham Easterling
Jan 14, 2026, 5:11:50 AMJan 14
to Weather and Climate
The government are still in denial. 3 days ago a government spokesman in the commons said 192 households were still without power. He could have added 2 noughts on the end, and it would still have been low, as was pointed out to him. He was living in some sort of parallel universe.
The forecasts were excellent, as were the warnings, the press reporting also OK. But there are lots of tragedies behind the headlines, in many cases nothing is being done. Whilst people argue over who is responsible for clearing this and restoring that, people struggle on with no access to their homes or no power. At least the press seems aware, even the natioal press.
Some people are in temporary accommodation, which the Council is likely to evict them from shortly. An 86 year old at New Mill, just outside Penzance, lives alone, and yesterday still had no power or heating.
Even places not out in the wilds are likely to be seriously affected for weeks unless more help arrives. THe road to Maenporth, a couple of miles from Falmouth is likey to be closed because of fallen trees for several weeks. What happens to businesses like the beach cafe, which is popular all year? Just one example.
Graham
Penzance
Ashley haworth-roberts
Jan 16, 2026, 4:27:59 PMJan 16
to Weather and Climate
Graham Easterling
Jan 17, 2026, 4:51:21 AMJan 17
to Weather and Climate
Yes, I read that, and I think he's missed an important point (and why dies he mention 1987 at all, Devon and Cornwall weren't badly affected).
He's referring to the greater SW, only Cornwall was severely hit by this storm (windwise). I managed to get hold of this which shows insurance claims by postcode, and remember how sparsely populated many parts of Cornwall are.
This was a Cornish event, not a wider SW event.
In west Cornwall, by any measurement, this storm was worse than the Burns Day storm, and on a par with the 1979 storm. David says
"I n 1979 a 118mph gust hit Gwennap Head in Cornwall believed to be the strongest gust of wind since 1703."
This was a northerly gale and achieved reliably recorded gusts of 111 & 123mph. In west Cornwall the 1979 & Goretti Storms are the lead two storms in the last 100 years, by a margin.
The damage done to woodlands is almost indescribable. Penzance really marks the western outpost of any proper wood, just a few stunted trees to the west. From a distance many copses apeear to be OK, but get close and the standing trees are often jyst stripped of branches.
When he says:-
" In my opinion based just on wind gusts, Storm Goretti is in the top five of the most powerful storms in the South West on record with 1703, 1859, 1979, and the Burns Day storm of 1990 being stronger." for Cornwall that is incorrect. Only correct for the remainder of the SW which were relatively unaffected by Goretti.
Graham
Penzance
Ashley haworth-roberts
Jan 17, 2026, 11:49:36 AMJan 17
to Weather and Climate
I think the BBC lump the (autonomous) Channel Isles in with 'south west England'.
Graham Easterling
Jan 17, 2026, 12:44:13 PMJan 17
to Weather and Climate
There have been a number of severe storms that have only really affected the far SW of Cornwall, and therefore are often ignored.
There was the Penlee Lifeboat disaster of 1981 when gusts reached 100mph, and the significant wave height off Lands End reached a staggering 18m. ( https://rnli.org/about-us/our-history/timeline/1981-penlee-lifeboat-disaster ) Apart from the crew of the Soloman Browne, and the crew and passengers on the Union Star, another ship sank with the loss of 6 lives the same night in Mount's Bay. Another event worse than the Burns Day storm, but rarely gets a mention. 22 people for 3 boats in total lost there lives that night in Mount's Bay in horrendous conditions. No mention in the BBC article.
The sea actually wasn't that large in Goretti, it all happened to quickly, and not really over the Atlantic. The biggest sea in living memory (according to people who should know, local fisherman and lifeboat crewa) occured om 10th March 2008. https://www.sennen-cove.com/10march08.htm .
What the article should have done was look at the area badly affected by Goretti, and examine previous events in that area, not have a quick dig into the BBC archives for SW England and rehash news images.
Graham
Penzance
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