EARLY warnings that Jersey was facing “severe” weather conditions – that could rival the Great Storm of 1987 – would later be acknowledged as a key factor in enabling an effective emergency response, which ultimately helped keep Islanders safe this time last year.
Among those at the centre of that response was police chief Robin Smith, who, before Storm Ciarán’s arrival, declared a major incident and urged members of the public to stay at home.
“We were able to make good decisions based on good information,” Mr Smith said, citing the closure of schools – announced two days in advance – as ultimately proving “very sensible”.
A multi-agency situation room, set up at States police headquarters, was operational from midnight as clocks ticked over into Thursday 2 November.
The next few hours would see hurricane-strength winds and a tornado bring down hundreds of trees, block roads, scatter debris, cause flash-flooding and deal extensive damage to properties across the Island.
Mr Smith praised Islanders for heeding the public safety advice issued before the storm, describing the fact that there were no fatalities as “probably the highlight of my career”.
“Two or three injuries and no deaths – that is remarkable,” he added.
Recalling his time in the situation room during the storm, Mr Smith said: “It’s a bit of an Americanised title, but it worked on the day. We had all the key partners in one of our rooms, a big conference room with all the technology, TV screens, command logs, a bank of telephones.
“We were all set and good to go.
“We had the right people in the room very early.”
Mr Smith highlighted the roles played by Jersey Met, the government communications unit, the emergency services, the honorary police and the utility companies, as well as hoteliers who helped provide temporary shelter for Islanders who had to leave their homes.
He cited head of meteorology Paul Aked (the subject of an interview in Monday’s JEP), Justice and Home Affairs chief officer Kate Briden, Radisson Blu Waterfront Hotel general manager Christopher Peach and Jersey Electricity chief executive Chris Ambler as some of the many individuals involved.
He also thanked the Lieutenant-Governor, Vice-Admiral Jerry Kyd, who he said had – along with a number of ministers – offered “very supportive messages” in the days leading up to the storm.
Among those deployed that morning was PC Jerry Sexton, who helped evacuate Islanders from a number of houses in badly affected areas.
“We’ve driven down to Princess Place, we’ve come in and it actually looked like a bomb had gone off. Garage doors had flown off, windows broken, roofs had come off houses, debris everywhere,” he recalled.
“In your mind, you’re just alert and trying to get people to safety so you don’t realise the danger, the damage, until you reflect.”
He added: “A lot of people didn’t realise the severity of what was happening. A lot of people were saying ‘I need my phone’ or ‘I need to get this’.
“We were saying trust us and let’s get everyone safe.”
Further east, Rosemary Goodchild was among a group of Islanders being evacuated from a row of cottages on Rue de Fliquet – which were left roofless after the tornado hit.
“It was a bit surreal,” she recalled.
“There was nothing much that you could do.”
She added that the response of the emergency services had been “fantastic”.
“They acted very quickly.”
Mrs Goodchild – and her dog, Bob – were temporarily placed in hotel accommodation. She said they were “well looked after” and had since relocated to a property in Trinity.
Deputy emergency planning officer Richard Blake described the “ability” and “dedication” of the agencies involved in the emergency response as “reassuring for the public”.
“The first thing in the minds of the people who sit around the table is the risk to life. It’s about keeping our Islanders safe, keeping communities as safe as possible.”
Reflecting on the days leading up to the storm, he said: “There were practical, pragmatic steps taken but I think the most significant one, where the co-ordination was most effective, was in the communications that went out to give the public the advice that they needed to stay in.
“That played the most significant part of the response and credit to Islanders who heeded that advice.”
Mr Blake also highlighted the effectiveness of the situation room in co-ordinating the emergency response.
“The benefit of that approach was that you had every single partner agency around the table, who had the authority to make certain decisions and direct staff.
“The challenge was the severity of the conditions that we were being asked to go out and respond in, and of course there was always going to be a limit to what we can do in terms of our own safety and duty of care to our staff.
“It was extremely challenging – we predicted some severe weather but we didn’t predict the tornado.”
He noted that one of the recommendations made by emergency planners from the UK – who came over to help with the post-storm debrief – was that the situation room should be established in future incidents.
The second part of the JEP’s look back at Storm Ciarán, in Monday’s edition, includes an interview with Jersey Met about predicting the weather event
