06/02/2014 BBC Channel Islands News

Good evening. Guernsey authorities There is also a first look

Good evening. Guernsey authorities have been tackling widespread

flooding on the island tonight. Around 60 roads were reported as

flooded, including here at Route Du Camp Du Roi. Excessive rainfall is

also causing problems in parts of Alderney. Meanwhile strong winds

have hampered clear`up operations of existing damage across the Channel

Islands. Guernsey's environment department admits it's already

almost completely spent its budget for maintaining coastal defences.

Mike Wilkins reports. A lower tide, but one that's still

wreaking havoc. Today this part of Guernsey's east coast was given very

little time to recover as the waves smashed in once again.

Behind to me the castle breakwater has been damaged. Huge rocks have

been dislodged, and it is too early to say what it will cost to repair,

but this is crucial to the protection of Saint Peter bought.

Across the island teams have been working against the elements to

repair the damage. We can't actually do much when the tide is coming

over, so we have between tides to do as much as we can. Some places we

had to leave because they were too dangerous to get to.

As we start just the second month of the year, the environment

department's maintenance budget has almost been spent already. The

budget for the sea walls and the coastal defences will be gone

without question, but that is not the end of the world.

Repairing all this will cost a lot of money, and the environment

department is going to have to find more and re`prioritise its plans to

ensure the island remains protected from future storms.

As the unlikely begins to happen at Castle Cornet, some reassuring news

for insurance customers. Some companies say the storm damage won't

have a huge effect on premiums. The number of claims we have had

notified is far more biased to Guernsey than jersey, and

specifically localised to a certain area. I don't see that storm and the

floods that have occurred over the last few days will have a huge

effect on premiums, no. For people that have been affected

by storm damage, the advice is to speak to your insurance company as

soon as possible. Well, with more weather warnings on

the way, our reporter Edward Sault has been to Jersey's Transport and

Technical Services depot to speak to minister Kevin Lewis.

You join me at a wet and blustery transport and technical services

depot in Jersey. This is where all the road sweepers for the island are

kept. If you come with me, you can see for yourself. Here are two that

have been heavily involved in the clean`up this week, and they are

undergoing a clean`up themselves, ready for more bad weather. Kevin

Lewis, how bad has the weather been in your experience? I have never

known it this bad. So storm of the century as far as I'm concerned

We're looking at upwards of ?20 ,000 a total cost of the clean`up will

stop but there is more to come. We have a red warning tonight, we are

anticipating trees to come down roof tiles to come off. We advise

anyone if they have something in their garden that can blow around,

please secure it and batten down the hatches. What are other problems

that you're envisaging? We have several teams on stand`by, the

forestry team on stand`by on the sweepers you have mentioned. They

can clear seaweed and debris prior to the roads being opened. A lot of

it has to be done by hand because seaweed is too heavy. We are

prepared. Debbie G, thank you. The team here are prepared for more

bad weather over the course of the next few days. This afternoon,

Jersey Met did issue another weather warning. The clean`up will continue.

The head of Jersey's Fishermen's Association says this winter's been

one of the worst for local fishermen in 35 years. And it's starting to

have an affect on local fish supplies, as Jen Smith found out.

Get them while you can. Vicky Border's been selling fish in Jersey

at this family business for more than 15 years. She says she still

has plenty to fill the shelves now, but by the weekend shellfish will be

gone. Crab and lobster will be the main problem, and when that has run

out, it has run out. We will just have to hope that there is light at

the end of the tunnel, and the fishermen can get back out, because

they are the guys I feel sorry for. Vicky's shop relies on the catch

local fishermen bring in. But the boats have been stuck in the harbour

since December, so there's little to go around. We are running into the

sixth week since fishermen have really had any income at all. We can

suffer a couple of weeks, but this is creating real difficulty,

particularly for young fishermen, to have no income at all.

The slump in local fish is having a knock`on affect from fishermen's

pockets to restaurant plates. Lobster, crab, it is all imported at

the moment. Scallops, and a lot of the fish as well, the wet fish. A

bit comes from the mainland anyway, so we are managing in that respect,

but local has been pretty bad for local fish. Vicky's optimistic

there'll be a break in the weather soon, so Jersey's fishermen can get

back to sea. But with more bad weather on the way

for the weekend, these nets may be ashore for a while to come.

There are weather warnings still in place for flooding in some low`lying

areas across the Channel Islands early tomorrow morning. BBC Radio

Guernsey and BBC Radio Jersey are on air from 6am with all the details.

David is here next with our latest forecast. But from me, good night.

Good evening. Good news and bad news. The good news is that we

should have a reasonable day tomorrow, even with some morning

sunshine. The bad news is the wind will pick up later in the day, and

overnight we will have more wind and rain turning up, and also strong

winds overnight tonight. They'd could be damaging winds. Gusts of up

to 70 mph, so really strong. They use through the day, but for a short

while, pretty lively. They are picking up quite swiftly,

temperatures, 607 Celsius. A few passing showers, thick cloud

approaching from the West, eight or nine Celsius the top temperature,

and generally lighter winds than we have been used to. Saturday and

Sunday, the wind and the rain just keeps on coming.

settled into Sunday. From us, good night. Here is

Hello. I think the impact of this wet weather could be felt more

widely as time goes on, even in areas which have been unscathed up

until now. For now, the focus is on southern England. We have amber

weather warnings right through until Saturday. We have another storm

heading