'We're still clearing Storm Goretti devastation'

Businesses in Guernsey have said they are still clearing up damage caused by Storm Goretti in January.

The island was hit by severe wind speeds of 95mph (154km/h) on the night of 8 January, with thousands of trees lost and damage to properties.

Two months on, tree surgeon Simon Marshall said his team is still working long hours to catch up with the "devastation" caused. "The last couple of months have been incredibly busy," he added.

Meanwhile, Andy Gavey, managing director of Sarnian Roofing, said his business had received more than 700 calls requesting repairs to damage caused by the storm and the waiting list was growing.

"In the office we had five people answering the phones all day long for about a week, and even today we're still getting people," Gavey told BBC Radio Guernsey.

He continued: "We had one man who was absolutely desperate and he had tried so many different roofing companies, and came to us as a last resort.

"We're going to try and help him but he has to go on the waiting list which could take more than a year and half to get through."

Marshall, owner of Special Branch tree surgeons, said there was still lots of work to be done.

"We've been working long hours and trying to catch up with the amount of devastation," he said.

"Guernsey lost just over 2,000 trees, so we're just trying to get around and keep up with the workload as best as we can."

Marshall said that the nature trail Millennium Walk had remained closed since the storm and that his team had been clearing pine trees which had blown over.

But despite the damage, Guernsey has been experiencing brighter weather in recent days, which Gavey has welcomed.

"Now we've got a bit of sunshine, it's going improve the staff morale," he said.

"You can see the smiles on the faces of the guys when they come into work. They're so much happier."

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