Morecambeology Part 10: Blackout

By Peter Wade

The Dukes in Lancaster will be presenting Blackout – Where were you when the lights went out? from 13 October to 3 November. The drama by Sarah McDonald-Hughes sets out to tell the stories of ordinary lives in extraordinary circumstances during and after Storm Desmond. It was at around 10.45pm on Saturday 5 December 2015 that the lights went out across Morecambe, Lancaster and Carnforth, plunging 100,000 people into darkness. Communication and transport were both affected.

My diary from the time recalls the events.

4 December

The rain from Storm Desmond had set in by the time of my return to Barrow railway station. Various young people sheltering … then we were off, rain lashing the windows … Back by bus and a final walk into the gale.

5 December

High winds and still raining. Red flood alerts for Cumbria. A day to stay in … Pools of water growing on the fields.

6 December

Power cut overnight. At an unknown hour looked out from a darkened house over a dark landscape – an eerie greenish sky with only car headlights to pierce the gloom. Glow over the power stations and some light towards Middleton. Still no power by morning. The cooker clock showed it went off at about 10.40. Tea and toast by candlelight with matches to light the gas and an old kettle to make hot water.

Rigged up a Walkman to get news. On Radio 4 there were reports of 55,000 homes without power in Lancaster and Morecambe. Local radio stations indicated a flooded sub-station at Caton Road.

By torchlight to SW’s. Not a total blackout with patches of lighting along Devonshire Rd and Regent Rd towards the West End, round the fire station on Westgate and at Salt Ayre and Asda where a generator was rumbling away. Road block at Scale Hall so no road traffic towards the Millenium Bridge with both Greyhound and Skerton Bridges closed.

SW surprised I’d made the journey and so not really expecting me. Improvised tea. Listened to The Bay whose ground floor quayside studios had been flooded. Instead they were broadcasting from an upper room and inviting passing traffic to sound their horns (many did). SW had been out into town going over Carlisle Bridge and up Castle Hill where a crowd had gathered trying to get mobile phone signals. Flooding had affected the bus station and underground car parks.

Back home again by torchlight though by then hazy stars had been replaced by cloud. A surprising number of people out and about in Lancaster, many with torches but not all as they emerged suddenly from the darkness. Little change on the way back aside from a pool of lights crowning Higher Heysham and the sign at Tibicar Garage.

Concerned message from CC on the answerphone.

7 December

Chorus of distant alarms at 5am. Power restored after a break of 30 and a half hours.

Morning call from RA at Carnforth where diverted traffic was passing through. Hillcroft Nursing Home had been evacuated. Reports from Shap that Stepps Hall had escaped flooding by a bare millimetre.

Quiet out. Central Printing closed, Arndale sparse and I was a solitary shopper in Stationery 4 Less.

Power off again at 4pm. At least managed some washing and washing up.

8 December

Still no power when I got up for an early breakfast at what turned out to be before 6. Back to bed then chorus of alarms. After several false starts power was restored by 7.

Down to almost my last drop of milk so off to the shops. Aldi open but no dairy or chilled products so stocked up on bread and non-perishables. Morrisons had plenty of dairy so finished shop there.

Broken window and scatter of stones below Heysham High’s maths building bore witness to someone making the most of the cover of darkness.

9 December

Lots of flood pictures in this week’s Visitor but not so many blackout ones (!). The front page headline was though ‘Blackout!’

Morecambeology Part 6: Stormy Weather with Peter Wade ;-)

The clue is in the name: Poulton – a settlement by a pond or pool. With no sea defences as such, Poulton and its neighbours had to make the most of the landscape, setting themselves on hills or behind higher ground, seeking shelter from storm and flood.

Caught between the sea and storms on one side and the flood plain of the Lune estuary on the other, there must have been many past inundations which have gone unrecorded.

From the 1850s onwards as Morecambe began to be established, there are regular reports of damage to new sea walls, wind damage and flooding (some as far inland as what is now the Shrimp Roundabout.

Many people still remember the storm of 1977 with gales of up to 92 mph and widespread flooding as the central promenade was breached. The most notable casualty was the West End Pier. This had suffered various mishaps over the years but finally fell victim to the storm, apparently because it had been fixed too rigidly to the promenade – with a bit more flexibility it might have survived. The morning after, the beach was alive with scavengers, many searching for pennies lost overboard from the slot machines.

Another notable storm took place on Mothering Sunday in 1907. A spring tide, south westerly gale and the Lune in flood after a month’s rainfall all combined to cause a breach in the West End promenade and widespread flooding inland. Around the Stone Jetty stone blocks were thrown about by the waves and the workshops of Wards Shipbreakers were damaged. The Ben-my-Chree, a paddle steamer with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company awaiting scrapping, broke its moorings and had to be scuppered to stop it being carried away.

Inland there was flooding around Charles Street and Out Moss Lane resulting in the loss of livestock, as well as floods on White Lund, around Woodhill, Overton and Snatchems. Food and supplies had to be brought to stranded householders by boat.

Along Sandylands, front gardens were wrecked, and cellars and lower floors flooded. Furniture was to be seen floating down streets (a similar sight was reported in Parliament Street in 1977).

Sandylands Promenade was again wrecked by a storm at the very end of 1925. Its repair and, more importantly, its repair bill, led to the amalgamation of Morecambe and Heysham in 1928.