Storm Darragh brings severe disruption to Winchester

Storm Darragh has wreaked havoc up and down the UK this weekend, and the Winchester area has been no exception.

Winds of more than 60mph have been reported by the Met Office across Hampshire, and a yellow weather warning was issued from 3pm on Friday until 6am on Sunday.

The disruption first began on late on Friday night, when the A34 near Winchester was shut to allow National Highways to fell trees that may have posed a risk to road users.

Public transport has also been affected; South Western Railway announced on Saturday morning that a fallen tree had blocked the line between Romsey and Salisbury.

The line has since fully reopened.

Some homes were left without power in rural areas around Winchester.

Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks said outages were reported in Compton, Ropley, Sparsholt and Hursley.

Winchester Cathedral Christmas Market was initially set to open at the delayed time of 1pm on Saturday, before later being cancelled altogether.

This was the third time already this year that the Christmas market has been forced to close due to poor weather.

A statement on their Facebook page said: “The Winchester Cathedral Christmas Market plans to resume normal opening times subject to weather conditions from Sunday 8th December.

“We will continue to measure the situation, and further updates will be provided. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”

Many of our local football teams also fell victim to the storm; Winchester City, Eastleigh, Basingstoke Town, Romsey Town and Colden Common all saw their games postponed.

Elsewhere, Storm Darragh was too strong even for Father Christmas!

An event organised by Winchester Round Table would have seen Santa Claus greeting children in the city on Saturday afternoon.

The organisers said: “Due to high winds today in Winchester City Centre, Santa will not be able to land in Friarsgate Garden between 3pm and 5pm.

“We will do our best to re-arrange this event with Winchester City Council just as soon as we can.”