The tail end of Storm Dennnis is taking time to leave Pevensey Bay
Today, Monday morning, Februry 17 (09:00) residents have woken to wind and rain as they wait to see what Storm Dennis will do.
The BBC weather forecast for the South East is suggesting “today will have sunny intervals and squally showers with a risk of hail and thunder. A longer spell of rain is possible around the middle of the day. Strong to gale force south-westerly winds.
Tonight the forecast is for “clear spells and just a few scattered showers. A chilly night with a brisk westerly wind”.
The prospect of clear spells and just a few scattered showers and a chilly night with a brisk westerly wind will be welcome news here afer Peveney Bay has been battered by Storm Dennis right through the weekend.
Two women were killed as Storm Dennis hit Sussex.
The two died in separate incidents – one swept away into the sea and the second killed in a crash on the A27.
Emergency services launched a huge search operation to try to find the women who entered the sea in “horrendous conditions” off Brighton beach at about 2.45am on Sunday.
The woman last night had not been found and was presumed dead.
Shoreham RNLI said: “An air and sea search were carried out after a report of a woman seen entering the water near Brighton Palace Pier at 2.45am on Sunday .
“The all-weather lifeboat carried out a search for nearly three hours in storm force 10 conditions east and west of the Palace Pier along with the Coastguard helicopter, Coastguard teams from Shoreham, Newhaven and Littlehampton, Sussex Police and South East coast Ambulance. Sadly, she was not found.”
A second woman died in a crash on the A27 at Patcham. Her car skidded into a lamp post and hit the central reservation.
Sussex Police said: “A woman has died after her car was in collision with a lamp post and crash barrier on the A27 outside Brighton”.
A tree blocked the railway line between Haywards Heath and Lewes. Trains had to be diverted via Brighton.
Storm Dennis battered Sussex and left a trail of destruction. The relentless force of the wind and incessant rain made for a weekend for local residents that saw them batten down the hatches and stay safe in doors.
Pevensey Bay seems to have escaped the worst of the excesses of Storm Dennis.
Elsewhere in the country hundreds of flood warnings remain across much of Englandd, five of them severe, the storm dumped a month of rain on some areas over the weekend, with winds of up to 90mph.
Large parts of Britain were facing more days disruption. Storm Dennis is being described as one of the worst winter storms of recent times, which came a week after Storm Ciara, which weakened defences against the floods.
The north Atlantic storm, has been titled a “bomb cyclone”, There were nearly 600 flood warnings and alerts in England on Sunday, more than any other day in the record books.
Ninety year old local resident, Pauline Montgomery, said that she ‘had never seen anything like this weather before’.
At 09:30 the sun came out and the wind speed dropped. In Pevensey Bsy with residents hoping for ‘some normal weather this week’.
