27/01/2014 BBC Channel Islands News

Homes lost electricity, traffic That is all from us,

Homes lost electricity, traffic lights stopped working and

businesses had problems serving customers during a power cut which

hit the whole of Jersey and parts of Guernsey today. It is thought

lightning storms in Normandy caused the loss of power from the French

grid which supplies the Channel Islands. Emma Chambers reports.

Hazardous road conditions and businesses unable to trade this

morning. And it is all because of this. The purple and red pixels show

a thunderstorm moving over the Channel Islands to France. The radar

animation stops just at the point a lighting strike hit the French

network which supplies us with electricity ` causing a power cut

across the whole of Jersey. It has happened before, it is quite

unusual. We have monitored the weather in France, it is prone to

thunderstorms in Normandy so we generally look out for this but as

you are probably aware it is extremely difficult to predict a

lightning strike. While all of Jersey lost power for a time, only

half of Guernsey Electricity customers were affected.

If we were fully connected to the French credit would be a complete

power cut this morning. We managed to maintain half of the island's

power because we had a generation on the island at this time.

Jersey's fire service had an unpresidented number of calls during

the black out. We had over 21 calls received by our

combined call centre. Two of those were automatic fire alarms and eight

were left incidents. People trapped in lifts. We released five people

and one dog from those lifts. Fiona was one of those unlucky

enough to get caught in a lift. Luckily her neighbours were on hand

to help her out. A minute earlier or later we would

have been fine but we just happened to be there. I will not forget it in

a hurry, that joke and defend the darkness I think we'll stay with me

for a long time. `` that joke and even the darkness.

`` that jolt. It comes as Jersey Electricity is

carrying out a survey of the sea bed for the third cable between the

island and France, But the company says, although it would give us more

security, it wouldn't have prevented this morning's power cut.

An over`reliance on the goodwill of staff and a lack of leadership has

hampered Guernsey's bowel cancer screening programme. That is

according to a report released today. The service has been at the

centre of a political row, which lead to a vote of no confidence in

the Health Board. Earlier our reporter, Penny Elderfield, told me

more. There has been a lot of interest in

this since it emerged last year Health hadn't spent all of it's

budget for bowel cancer screening. And this latest review's flagged up

several problems. Firstly staffing ` without a permanent team dedicated

to the service, there's a reliance on temporary staff and goodwill to

keep it going. That actually may have brought down costs ` but it's

not a long term solution. It also says a lack of leadership is

hampering plans for developing and expanding the programme.

So did the underspend mean people missed out on screening?

Apparently not. Take up is as expected, so the department's happy

with that side of it. It says the problems come down to the fact it

was introduced as a pilot scheme, and in some ways is still being run

as one. Unfortunately, it was a rushed and

they did not do the proper implementation. We know, for

example, from the breast screening programme, what staffing level

should be and varying levels of management. To deliver the service

to the people of Guernsey we have to do do the same for bowel cancer

screening and we intend to do that in the future.

And we can expect more reports looking to the future ` for example

whether more should be targeted and when people should be re`screened.

So, will all this fuel debate on the vote of no confidence this week

The focus of that is actually more to do with the Health Minister

giving the States misleading information on the screening

programme. But it will no doubt give them more to talk about.

Jersey's deputy viscount will be writing to a company which makes

bike pedals, after a man died in road accident last year.

An inquest today heard that tourist Neil Blood had been using some new

pedals, with clips which attached to his shoes. The 41`year`old had

difficulty unclipping from them when he got to the bottom of Mount

Bingham. He fell off, into the path of an oncoming lorry. He died of

severe chest injuries. Guernsey Police are investigating

after a man's body was found outside the Prison. It was found yesterday

morning on the nature trail between the prison and Belle Greve. Police

say it's not suspicious. Airline Aurigny has applied to

Guernsey's licensing authorities to start a service to London City

Airport. If given the go ahead the twice daily flight will start in

May. People from the Channel Islands who

died during the Holocaust have been remembered at a special ceremony to

mark the liberation of Auschwitz. Three Jewish women from Guernsey

died in there while 21 people from Jersey died in other camps. Jen

Smith reports. This is the first time Doctor Kevin

White has been able to pay tribute to his grandfather. The historian

has only recently discovered his family's connection with the

Holocaust. We knew roughly he had died in

Germany but we did not know he was one of the Jersey 21, that he had

stood in a court and really stood up for himself as a patriotically

Englishman against the Nazi 's and as such had a terribly long

sentence. His grandfather was sent to a prison

camp for failing to give up a radio. This service remembers the 21 who

died at the hands of the Nazis. These people never lived a natural

life span, and the world as a whole, not just those who lost their lives

and their relatives, but the world lost the benefit of the life of the

people. His grandfather has long been

included in this service. But now the story has more colour.

Time now for the weather forecast. Good evening.

The showers today have been lively and more of those again tomorrow.

This week is different. It is quite a bit colder, and we will probably

keep the showers going until at least Thursday, then perhaps some

dry weather, maybe on Wednesday two. 40 model and the early part of

Wednesday the showers will be frequent. They will probably

continue overnight, some heavy, flown in on a blustery breeze,

temperatures around four or five Celsius. For all of us are very cold

night and called Michael Day tomorrow. Wind will add of the

showers. `` cold day. The wind diocese later in the day and comes

back around southerly into the evening. As for Wednesday, some

showers in the morning but the afternoon is largely dry. Calder,

seven Celsius. Thursday, easterly winds set in bringing cold air and

slightly less cold as we move into Friday.

Time to get the thermals out. Newsnight is starting on BBC Two, I

am back with you live at 6:30pm tomorrow

It's going to get colder than it's been all winter. Ahead of that,

though, the showers keep going and going through tonight and into

tomorrow. Some of them heavy, possibly thundery too. Here's the

satellite. We can pick out the swirl of cloud here. The bands of shower

clouds that have been streaming into the UK. All driven and wrapped

around an area of low. That is the driving force for the showers that

we have at the moment. The centre close to Northern Ireland,