Waves of 10ft to 12ft are predicted in the west of the Island thanks to swell from the storm, which strengthened briefly to a category five hurricane at the weekend as it approached the Azores, making it the strongest storm recorded in that part of the Atlantic.
Matt Winter, duty forecaster for Jersey Met, said yesterday: ‘It looks like we are going to get the swell effects from the storm. Exactly what track it is going to take is difficult to say at this point.’
By yesterday, it looked as though the storm, which had weakened as it moved across cooler waters, was going to track north-east past Ireland and Scotland tomorrow and Friday, giving the Channel Islands a glancing blow but generating enough swell to get surfers heading for the water.
Chester Mackley, surfer and owner of Absolute Adventures and the Splash Surf Centre, said Friday’s forecast swell was ‘the talk of the town’.
‘It was originally looking like huge swell but now it looks like there will be strong winds too so it might be quite wild. The period between the waves, which is as, if not more, important than swell height, is looking good at about 15, 16, 17 seconds. Everyone is going to be out looking for a little spot. It’s going to be good.’
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Meanwhile, several coastal businesses were clearing up yesterday after a combination of Jersey’s second-largest high tide – at 12.26 metres or 40.2ft – since accurate records began over 20 years ago and strong winds caused minor damage. The highest recorded tide was 12.33m or 40.45ft on 10 March 2008.
St Peter Port in Guernsey suffered more serious flooding.
Water flooded over the edge of the sea wall near the RNLI Lifeboat Station and Lifeboat Café on the Albert Pier and near Commercial Buildings at high tide at 8.40pm on Monday.
Jackson Lowe, co-owner of the Nude Food Beach café at La Haule, St Aubin, said strong waves had ripped wooden cladding off the side of the building, which was renovated earlier this year.
‘For anyone who knows the area there is a shower and the water level was up to the button,’ he said.
‘I was watching from home on the CCTV and I could see it was going off. I got down there at about 8.20pm and it was already up to the bottom of the café. It was a nervous time.’
Mr Lowe, who filmed some of the events on his drone, said he went back yesterday morning to collect some bits of the Accoya timber that had been ripped off. The café is open as normal.
Marcus Calvani, owner of the Be Served Group, which operates the Lido at Havre des Pas, said water had got in and there was a clean-up operation yesterday. The kiosk at the site is already closed for winter and Mr Calvani said functions that are booked at the Lido will be unaffected.
Infrastructure Minister Kevin Lewis said staff from his department were cleaning seaweed and rocks from roads yesterday. He was also pleased with how the raised seawall at Beaumont worked.
‘It worked well and we hope to push on and extend it next year,’ he added.
