Storm Goretti has been one of the most damaging storms to hit Cornwall in memory, with gusts of over 100mph recorded at St Ives Coastguard Station… very close to home for some of our developments, as some of the damage proved testament to! Roof damage and felled trees provided the biggest dramas, but nearly everywhere was affected in some way.
Obviously much of the post-storm repair work is still ongoing, but we’d like to thank the amazing response of local contractors to hitting the ground running on Friday morning, and working through Saturday and Sunday in some cases. Much of the stress on our clients has been allieviated quickly thanks to your endeavours across St Ives, Penzance, West Penwith, Falmouth, Camborne, Redruth and Perranporth in particular. Roofers, tree surgeons and gardeners were all wearing invisible capes whilst carrying out their heroics this weekend.
Another massive thanks to local services for the amazing efforts to get Cornwall back to business as usual so quickly. Whilst some areas are still without power and/or water (including our Accounts Manager who even with his home generator has no internet to VPN in to the office or connect to the banks!), the efforts to clear roads of trees on Friday morning was spectacular! That meant that Blue Waters were able to have boots on the ground in the worst-affected areas immediately. Falmouth, Redruth and half of Penzance visited on Friday; Perranporth, St Ives and Carbis Bay were assessed on Saturday; West Penwith (including Sennen Cove and Porthcurno) and the other half of Penzance were inspected on the Sunday!
Finally, a massive thanks to our Blue Waters staff for cancelling plans on days off to come into the office and/or answer phones remotely. They have been all working exceptionally hard, and the flood of positivity and thanks coming back through the phonelines has been fuelling morale and making it all worthwhile. That’s enabled Katie to hit the road all weekend knowing the team has everything in hand back home… and Katie and Ross really have been all over! (Ross is showing severe finance-withdrawl symptoms… but most of the year-end work was already done thankfully).
Tough (and expensive) times, but Blue Waters will continue to prioritise tying up lose ends, securing quality contractors and managing insurance claims until Storm Goretti is a distant memory… a bit like this final short of a double rainbow over one of our sites in Falmouth early on the Friday morning, which was a lot prettier than the gigantic tree felled and carved up already immediately to the left!
