Xynthia Strikes !

During the early hours of Sunday morning a wild storm called Xynthia hit Preuilly. It had come up off the Atlantic through Portugal, through south-west France and went on to hit the north of France, Belgium, and up into Denmark. At least 15 people have been killed in France, and friends of ours to the south, north and west had no electricity, along with a million others.

Our one missing slate.

Luckily, Preuilly seems to have come out of it relatively lightly. We have lost a single ardoise (roof slate) but many houses have lost roofing material, which crashed down into the streets. After a long cold winter, wind gusts of over 100kph was the last straw for some old buildings. There is stone, tile, slate, glass and timber lying in the street. I met the pompiers (fire brigade) this morning blocking off a street because the state of one of the roofs was clearly dangerous. They spent the morning cruising around town assessing the damage and cleaning up where necessary. Many places with big barn doors look like they've had an explosion inside, with the doors straining outwards on metal bars.

The half finished trellis at our verger / potager, looking
distinctly drunken. The only other casualties at the orchard
were a few overwintering cabbages, which have all been beheaded.

A street lamp that has snapped its moorings.

This roof is now so dangerous that
the street below has been blocked off.

The stone apex of the gable on this place
has broken off, taking some slates and a
crenellation with it. Further along the
roof ridge the zinc is lifting.

Susan