Storm Conor - A bit hairy!

[Rosaboobie]

AT the end of last week, we had Storm Barbara, but she was a pussycat compared to our current storm - Storm Conor. It has been a bit of a hairy day with Sanday winds gusting up to 107 mph, and gusting to 135 mph on mainland Orkney. I really thought that I might lose my conservatory today - one of my very close neigbours lost a barn, and another close neighbour lost their wind turbine.

I went down to my neighbours Jo and Jeff yesterday for a pre-dinner drink and it took me ages to even get my car door open and closed again. Jo is looking after some dogs over Christmas time and she took them on the beach yesterday, and had to go practically on all fours just to get home again with them - it really is quite scary being out in this weather. I am having to force my fur babes to go out into the garden, and it is so funny to watch them being tipped over while trying to balance on 3 legs ha ha.

[LadyKestrel]

Hunker down and stay safe, RB!

[mbday630]

OMG. we have it really windy here today too - like 45 MPH and I was complaining about that but nothing like what you are having. Keep safe. Poor baby dogs trying to do their business outside in that weather though, eh?

[draclvr]

Oh, my goodness. That just sounds frightening. I sure hope your conservatory makes it.

[Val]

Hang in there RB! x

[Rosaboobie]

I am sure that one day this conservatory wont make it ha ha.

Although we had multiple mini power cuts in the night, the storm has now subsided and we have been just sooooo lucky not to have experienced any major power cuts. Can you believe that 2 Electricity Board engineers gave up their Christmas just so they could be stationed on Sanday in case of any major power problems? We do get VIP treatment from SSE, our supplier.

[draclvr]

I was just telling hubby about this storm and we are wondering how your power gets to the islands... are there cables on the sea floor? Or do you have power generators on each island?

[Lucien21]

I was just telling hubby about this storm and we are wondering how your power gets to the islands... are there cables on the sea floor? Or do you have power generators on each island?

Yes the cables are laid by submarine on the sea floor.

[draclvr]

I imagine there is too MUCH wind in Orkney to have wind-mill power generators! We have a lot of them here.

[Rosaboobie]

If you mean wind turbines, Drac, I am absolutely surrounded by them here.

On the rare occasion that the power is out for the whole Island for any length of time, then SSE ship over a huge generator on the ferry which can then power the whole of Sanday - and it is huge lol!

[draclvr]

Yes, these... I've never seen any pictures of them when I look at pictures of Sanday.

[Rosaboobie]

A neighbour lost their wind turbine yesterday morning - I cant understand how because they are normally well concreted and bolted in - one of these coming down could kill someone.

If the weather is ok tomorrow, I will go out and photo my nearby wind turbines for you, Drac!

We have 3 huge commercial wind turbines situate at the ferry terminal.

[draclvr]

That's awesome! I thought that would be a big thing there with as much wind as you have. But then I thought maybe there was TOO MUCH wind!

[Rosaboobie]

Many households on Sanday now have the smaller domestic-type wind turbine on their land - they do make an awful lot of noise in strong winds, and I am pretty sure it scares some of the birds away but hey ho, we just have to live with them.