00:00Layla, you're looking rather windswept there. Are you okay?
00:04I am perfectly okay, Chloe. I'm just in Herne Bay, where as you can see just by how windy it
00:10is,
00:11Storm Austin really is in full force. I mean, I had to give up on my umbrella because it was
00:15just getting turned inside out and getting blown away. But that's because winds are expected to
00:20reach up to 55 miles an hour. So it really is an intense storm. I mean, no, it's intense because
00:26the Met Office have named it the first storm of the season, Storm Austin. Now the Met Office never
00:32usually name a low pressure storm like this, unless they know it's going to cause damage or
00:37disruption across the entire county, which in this case it has done, and it will continue to do so
00:44for the rest of the day. And usually when storms are named, it's because they're going to put in
00:49place a yellow or red weather warning. And a yellow weather warning is in place for Kent until 9pm
00:55tonight. Now, Graham Madge from the Met Office was aware of the storm for the past couple of days,
01:01but said that wetter and wilder winters are something we can be expecting more of.
01:06Indications are that we are expecting a stormier, wetter start to winter than we would normally,
01:14and that's because of the El Nino event that's happening in the tropical Pacific.
01:18There is a known connection between a strong El Nino event and what's happening in the UK
01:25in late autumn and early winter.
01:27Well, other than messing up your hairdo there, Nayla, what other impacts have there been from
01:32the wind in Kent?
01:35Well, it's a pretty important impact this, Chloe, messing up my hair, but otherwise the heavy rainfall
01:40has been just flooded roads across the county. Power cables have been knocked down as well there,
01:47but also trees have been felled. Because if you look outside, you'll see that most of the trees,
01:51if not all of them, are still pretty much fully leafed, which means they still have all or majority
01:57of their leaves, which means they're more susceptible to being knocked over by strong winds, such as the
02:03ones in storm Austin, or by rainfall as well. I mean, you can see the images on screen now,
02:09just how bad this wind is. It's knocking water from the sea up against brick walls. Trees are being
02:16knocked down in Dover, in Sittingbourne, and the M2, which is, you know, heading London-bound.
02:21A tree in Hyde has also knocked over an overhead power cable, where UK power networks had to switch
02:28off supplies to 74 customers, just because they were damaged so badly. The power has come back on
02:35now, but you can really see the damage that's done there. And we heard from Toby Howe earlier,
02:41who's from the Kent County Council Highways, and he was saying the welfare and the safety of the
02:46people going out and picking up those felled trees is really, really important.
02:50We still have people out and about. As I say, those guys and girls will be out there 24-7,
02:55as and when required, if they get a call. What we've got to remember is we've got to look after
02:59their safety as well. So what I don't want is someone just to get a road open somewhere in
03:06heavy rain, heavy wind, trying to cut it down. We've got to make sure it's safe for them to do
03:11so.
03:12And what other advice has there been for people?
03:16Well, hearing from the UK Power Network's Kent County Council Fire and Rescue,
03:22the general consensus is just to stay wary and conscious of where you're going. Don't really head
03:27out unless you absolutely need to. If you're driving, be aware of spitting on the back of cars
03:34onto your windscreen, because visibility is going to be really, really low. The Met Office also said
03:39in gardens, there could be a threat of flying debris heading out onto roads as well. So people,
03:45they're just wanting people to be extra conscious of these really strong winds, because anything can be
03:49picked up and thrown about, hence the yellow weather warning at the place until tonight.
03:54Thank you so much for joining us, Naylor. Make sure your two feet stay firmly on the ground, okay?
