Storm Henk brings hours of misery to drivers after Christchurch cut off by fallen tree on bypass
Drivers were trapped in their cars for up to four hours on roads around Christchurch after a huge tree crashed down across the bypass as Storm Henk battered the coast on yesterday (Tuesday).
Traffic came to a standstill for miles on all roads leading into and out of the town shortly before 3.30pm.
Mums with babies, pensioners and those trying to get to Royal Bournemouth Hospital were among motorists left sitting for in their cars, with others missing flights from Bournemouth Airport.
Christchurch was turned into a ghost town as pubs and restaurants were left empty because of the traffic chaos.
Connor Jocelyn, from New Milton, had a lucky escape when the tree fell in front of his car as he drove along the bypass with wife Claire on his way to pick up their children from school in Ashley.
He said: “It came down right in front of me, a few branches just touched the front of the car. I turned around almost instantly and drove back down the wrong way, otherwise I would have been there for hours.”
Sara Quartermain Breckon left work in Boscombe at 4.45pm to drive home to Highcliffe but had only managed to get to Bargates by 7.30pm.
She said: “Absolutely nothing was moving. It was hell! To make it worse I saw at least three incidents of road rage, and my friend said a man shouted at her because he wanted to get past her car to McDonald’s with his kids, even though she couldn’t move anywhere.
“When I got to Bargates I realised there was a tree surgeon’s van a few cars in front of me and thought ‘He must be coming to tackle the tree’ which he was. So, once I got to Waitrose, I pulled into their car park and waited there until he had got rid of it.”
One woman reported she had a pensioner over 80 in her car during a four-hour ordeal. Posting on social media she said: “It was very upsetting. There was absolutely nothing we could do but wait.”
MoreBus reported up to two-hour delays on their service because of the fallen tree.
One Christchurch restaurant affected by the jams was Masala Bay in Bridge Street where a manager told how people cancelled bookings and he had to stop takeaways because his delivery driver was stuck in the traffic chaos.
Speaking about the situation, Christchurch town councillor Simon McCormack said: “Unfortunately due to high winds a number of trees were damaged, preventing the flow of traffic in a number of locations across the BCP area.
“The incident on the Christchurch bypass was just very unfortunate and created a pinch point on the main highway network resulting in a large traffic build-up. We would like to thank residents for their patience during this unfortunate incident and will be assessing that part of the network for any future risks.”
Elsewhere across the area downed trees caused havoc for other drivers with Hampshire police reporting ones in Shirley Holms towards Sway, on the A337 junction at Mill Lane, on the J1 exit to Lyndhurst Road and in East Boldre on Main Road.
There were also reports of a fallen tree blocking Matchams Lane and one on the A338 just south of Fordingbridge.
Totton Police posted a message online saying: “Storm Hent is taking its toll on the roads today. Our team have been out to numerous fallen trees in the area.”
Henrieta Van Hennik was driving along Alexandra Road in Lymington when a tree came down in front of her car at around 1.25pm. She said: “Luckily nobody was walking on that side of the pavement at that time. It was shocking.”
On the road from Brockenhurst to Lyndhurst, sisters Cerys and Mai Williams from Lymington were shocked when a tree fell yards from their car. Mum Paula said: “It was very scary for them. Ironically Cerys, who was driving, was looking out for potholes which she’d previously been warned about, not expecting a tree!”
“They quickly came to a halt as soon as they saw it tree falling, then turned around and came back. I’m just thankful that nobody was hurt.”
Tom Pope was among drivers who saw the tree come down and decided to try to remove it. They used whatever tools they could find including a saw and managed to make the road passable.
Off Mudeford Quay the RNLI were reported to have rescued a kite surfer who decided to ignore weather warnings. Barry Murphy, from Lymington, said: “It was madness to go out on the sea as it was. The kite surfer was obviously in trouble and the RNLI managed to get him into their boat and get him back to shore.”
