Holyhead marina in North Wales marina suffers ‘catastrophic damage’
Holyhead Marina suffered ‘catastrophic failure’ following an incessant pounding of a ‘perfect storm’ of gale force north easterly winds and spring tides.
Co director Geoff Garrod told MBY: “Our staff battled through the the night to do all that we could, but eventually we had to close the marina for safety reasons. We first put heavy duty pontoons protected by a floating breakwater into the harbour in 2001 and we’ve regularly seen storm conditions of force 10 and even 11 without issues. But we’ve never seen anything quite like this.”
Describing the conditions as ‘relentless’, Mr. Garrod said that a combination of the high density wind reaching severe gale force 9 combined with high spring tides to generate a vicious wave force.
Importantly, no injuries or loss of life occurred, but today the marina begins the task of assessing the damage. With the marina coming apart, some boats have sunk and others have been washed into the shoreline.
Local resident Alison Marie Young, who owns an apartment at the marina, watched the tragedy unfold. “The whole of the pontoons have gone, along with the boats that were tied up there”. She posted following video onto Facebook.
