Dunbar Townscape : Storm Damage at Parsonspool - Letham Park, Dunbar

Image: © Richard West Taken: 27 Nov 2021

On Friday 26th November 2021 a deep depression, named Storm Arwen, moved southwards down the North Sea bringing northerly winds of severe storm strength to the east coast of the northern UK from Aberdeen to Newcastle. In Dunbar, the wind started really blowing at around 3pm. By 6pm Dunbar was getting blasted by storm force winds. Surprisingly, although the winds were wet and full of salt spray, there was, thankfully, an absence of the heavy rain usually associated with cyclonic storms. The storm lasted most of the night but by daybreak on Saturday morning the sky had cleared and the winds had eased off. A morning walk down to Winterfield mains at Belhaven and then eastwards into town showed surprisingly little damage, bearing in mind the severity of the storm. There were some fragments of broken slates on the pavements in the harbour, East Shore and High Street areas of the town. The High Street was closed to vehicles because of the fragments of fallen chimney pots in the street. It was only when walking home via the Parsonspool to Letham Park footpath that I came across the blown over Scots pine trees shown here. The nearby houses appear to have escaped damage because the wind was coming from the north rather than the west or east.

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