STORM AUSTEN UPDATE 11AM
Update: 11am Thursday 22 October
A Channel Islands Red Wind Warning was issued this morning as Storm Austen approaches.
Jersey Met is forecasting very strong winds from Thursday evening, with the strongest expected early on Friday. These will likely reach Gale F8 to Severe Gale F9 with gusts of 70 to 80 mph.
Strong winds and heavy rain are expected to continue through Friday before gradually easing in the afternoon.
This may cause disruption to travel, fallen trees or branches on travel routes, and some localised flooding.
Please take care and, where possible, avoid outdoor activity on Friday morning.
To help keep everyone safe during the worst of the weather, a number of public services will close on Friday, along with Government of Jersey schools and colleges, including Highlands College.
Government service guidance
Health and Care Jersey
• Emergency, urgent and maternity services are continuing to operate as normal. Patient safety remains the highest priority.
• Islanders are asked to only call 999 for an ambulance in a life-threatening emergency. Please only attend the Emergency Department (ED) if you have a serious illness or injury that requires emergency care.
• If you have an outpatient appointment at the Hospital on Friday, please attend as planned if it is safe for you to travel, unless you are contacted and informed otherwise by HCJ.
• A decision on whether the Patient Transport Service will operate on Friday is being made today. A further update will follow.
• All patients with appointments in the UK have been contacted.
Infrastructure & Environment closures (Friday)
• The Recycling Centre and Green Waste site at La Collette will be closed.
• Sports centres will be closed until at least 3pm. Follow Active Jersey on social media for updates.
• Howard Davis Park, Coronation (Millbrook) Park and Sir Winston Churchill Park will be closed. Parks will be assessed on Saturday morning and reopened if safe to do so.
• Millennium Park will remain open. However, park facilities will be closed until weather conditions improve.
Other services
• All schools and colleges are closed on Friday. This decision was made yesterday, by the Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning, as early as possible to give families time to organise childcare arrangements.
• CAMHS at Bermuda House will be closed tomorrow. Two duty nurses and a duty doctor will monitor the duty phone remotely and review any crisis appointments at the hospital. Some appointments / reviews will move to teams where appropriate.
• All youth clubs will be closed Thursday night.
• The Jersey Library and Western Library will be closed Friday morning.
• For individual childcare arrangements please check with your nursery, childminder or after school club.
• The Union Street Customer Hub will remain open as normal.
A further update will follow this afternoon.
You can see the latest weather forecast here: https://www.gov.je/weather/