STORM VIDEO SPECIAL: The wind tunnel caused by East Croydon’s tall towers send pedestrians tumbling, while a Brick by Brick build in South Norwood is disintegrating, brick by brick, and Mitcham Road is blocked off by felled trees
Bricking it: Pimp House at Norwood Junction was taped off for safety as bits started being blown off. Pic: Jordan Rowe
Footage shot in Croydon town centre when Storm Eunice blew through London today showed the wind tunnel effects along George Street at their very worst, as pedestrians were blown off their feet and struggled around the junction of Dingwall Road.
And at Norwood Junction, the Brick by Brick-built new library building and flats, Pimp House, was a danger to passers-by as bits started to fall off in the wind… brick by brick.
Gusts of up to 90mph had been forecast ahead of Storm Eunice making landfall this afternoon, with the Met Office issuing a “Red” weather warning for one of the most powerful storms to hit southern England.
Rail, Tube and tram services were all disrupted or cancelled, and roads blocked by falling trees, and pictures and video from Inside Croydon loyal reader Des Fitzgerald illustrates. One bus was stranded between two mature fallen trees that had blocked off Mitcham Road.
Falling masonry in Waterloo saw one man injured and needing hospital treatment, while homes around the capital have been left without power as cables have been brought down.
The roof of the Millennium Dome at Greenwich was ripped to shreds as Eunice arrived at lunchtime.
Ripped apart: further along Mitcham Road, another mature tree was torn from its trunk
All of London’s main rail stations are expected to suspend services on Friday, the BBC reported.
The London Fire Brigade’s Control Room took 550 emergency calls between 10.30am and 1pm – more than the average number usually taken in a 24-hour period.
Both the Brigade and London Ambulance Service are asking people to only call 999 if there is an emergency or if there’s an immediate risk to life. Fallen trees or large branches can be reported to the local council, a spokesperson for the emergency services said.
There has been an observable wind tunnel effect created since the towers’ construction, which was granted planning permission by Croydon Council without any of the safeguards usually required by other local authorities, such as the City of London Corporation.
Monopoly trader: Jose Joseph still got his stall out on Surrey Street Market today, despite the weather
The impact of the twin towers at 101 George Street has been seen before, in the damage to the glass canopy at the front of East Croydon Station.
Today, the winds along George Street seemed much stronger than elsewhere nearby, to the extent that two adult men were taken off their feet as they tried to make their way along the road. No one was seriously hurt. Not this time, anyway…
Not everything stopped for Storm Eunice, though. A short walk from George Street, on Surrey Street Market, just one of the regular stall-holders was out, trading in spite of the foul weather.
Jose Joseph didn’t report a roaring trade in today’s roaring winds, though he did seem to have the ancient marketplace pretty much to himself, with no competition.
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