‘Thousands of trees lost’ in Guernsey during Storm Goretti | UK News

Islanders are counting the cost after Storm Goretti brought wind speeds of 95mph (154km/h) on Thursday night.

Andy McCutcheon, technical officer from Guernsey Trees for life (GTFL), said he estimated the number of trees lost in the storm was in the low thousands.

Steve Sarre, warden of Lihou island, said its house had been badly hit by the storm and the roof had been damaged. He said the damage would hit hard as Lihou was only just recovering from Storm Ciaran.

McCutcheon said the impact of the storm on the island’s trees was “widespread”.

“The force, the power of the storm came through was something that I think people would probably compare with the great storm of 1987,” McCutcheon said.

“The final picture is going be difficult to ascertain immediately but I think over the coming days … and I would dare to say we’re probably talking low thousands,” he said.

“I’m thinking this is a major event, certainly more trees came down in this storm than in the last notable storm, which is Ciaran.”

McCutcheon said it might not be possible to replant in areas where large trees were lost so moving forward they would “assess each site and then work out a plan for what we’re going to do in terms of species and location and numbers.”

Lihou is a small island off the west coast of Guernsey, which is only accessible at low tide and is run by a charity. Lihou House was badly damaged in Storm Ciaran in 2023 and the charity said it was only just recovering from the earlier impact.

Sarre said: “Unfortunately we got hit very badly in the storm yet again. A lot of the roof is missing…and some windows smashed and things like that.”

He added he thought it was going to be tough to “get back on its feet” and the house would be closed until Sunday.

But he said here had been a “great response” on Facebook from people sending messages of support.

“We’ve got a few people coming over that have volunteered to come and help,” he added.