Council prepares for stormy weather

Officers from Lancaster City Council were preparing for the consequences of predicted stormy weather earlier this week.

Officers from Lancaster City Council were preparing for the consequences of predicted stormy weather earlier this week.

With the nation on high alert for severe storms, council officers were keeping a keen eye on the situation.

Sand bags were made available and, because of the predicted surge in the high tide, storm boards were put into place on the promenade in Morecambe.

These boards are designed as a back-up to the coastal defences from which the town already benefits and block off the promenade from the adjacent road, restricting the spread of flood water.

The predictions eventually came to nothing and the Morecambe Bay area remained calm despite the problems in the South, South West and South Wales and the promenade stayed dry.

Adrian Morphet, one of Lancaster City Council's engineers, said: "We started work on putting the storm boards in place at around 7am on Monday on the sections of the promenade between the Battery and Bare.

"The process took between three to four hours and we were ready for the lunchtime high tide we had been warned about.

"As it happened the weather cleared up during the day and they proved unnecessary, but it was much better to do this than to not put them out and suffer the consequences if the predictions had held."

Once the current spell of bad weather is over the storm boards will be returned to the stores.

Date Updated: 19/03/09

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