Storm Ciara leads to road and park closures across Warwickshire

A Warwickshire County Council spokesperson said: “We have a number of roads closed throughout Warwickshire, due the storm Ciara passing through over the weekend. Our highways teams are currently out on the network assessing to see if the various closures can be safely lifted.

“Over the weekend and into the early hours of Monday morning, we dealt with over 150 emergency calls, the majority related to fallen branches and debris on the road. Our teams have worked incredibly hard over the weekend dealing with these emergencies and continue to do so this morning.

“County Highways responds to all reported incidents which have the potential to cause harm to highway users.”

Damages from the storm included several fallen trees at some parks, including Newbold Comyn park in Leamington and Abbey Fields in Kenilworth.

A Warwick District Council statement said officers with the district council’s Ranger Service reported and made safe a number of fallen trees in the district’s parks including Victoria Park and Abbey Fields.

Members of the Ranger Service also used social media to communicate incidents to the public. Their tweets were seen by more than 6,000 people yesterday (Sunday February 9). The team’s actions meant that signs and barriers could be put in place which allowed the parks to remain open to the public.

Members of the Ranger Service also rescued historical marker sign from outside Kenilworth's The Abbey Barn Museum and Heritage Centre in Abbey Fields.

Officers with the Operational Patrol Unit (OPU) for Warwickshire Police also responded to storm Ciara coverage across the county. One of the OPU officers attended 24 jobs and cleared 19 trees off Warwickshire roads.

The OPU officer made the following post on social about the storm response: "Our day was made massively easier by some amazing members of the local community who assisted with chainsaws and an array of farm machinery."

Impact from storm Ciara also caused a Kenilworth pub to be unable to serve food yesterday (Sunday February 9) afternoon. Winds from the storm led to a blown fuse at the substation next to The Gauntlet pub in Caesar Road, Kenilworth, which led to the change in services for the pub.

The pub did not completely lose power, and stayed open serving drinks.

An engineer from Western Power visited the pub last night and all issues were resolved making the pub ready for business this week.

The Gauntlet posted the following message on social media: "Apologies for all of you who missed out on food today - if you send a message to the page with your booking details we’ll try and sort you out with a bit of a discount when you’re next in."

The adverse weather also led to the closure of both Kenilworth and Warwick castles yesterday (Sunday February 9).

Kenilworth Castle will re-open next Saturday February 15 and on through the upcoming half term holiday to Sunday February 23. Kenilworth Castle will be open from 11am to 4pm during the half term break.

Charlecote Park, a National Trust property located near Wellesbourne, also closed all day (Sunday February 9). They re-opened as normal today (Monday February 10).