Severe weather expected again today

The Gibraltar Met Office last night issued a severe weather warning for Gibraltar, with strong winds and heavy rain expected early this morning.

South-westerly winds are expected to reach 40 – 45 knots, with isolated gusts of up to 60 knots.

The worst of the winds were expected between 6am and 7pm, while heavy and persistent showers of rain will continue throughout the day with an expected rainfall of around 40mm in any six-hour period.

“The general public is reminded that the heavy rains may cause localised flooding in certain areas and particular care should be taken on the roads,” the Gibraltar Government said in a statement.

“Strong winds may continue to cause some damage and risk of injury from flying debris is ever-present.”

“Items which could cause damage if dislodged by strong winds should be secured. Disruption to travel is again likely to be experienced during this period.”

Yesterday Storm Emma, as the weather front is called, brought gusts of up to 107 kilometres per hour, according to local meteorologist Steph Ball at Meteo Gib.

Yesterday afternoon the strongest gust of the day at that point reached the peak gusts registered previously in both the December 2017 and January 2018 storms.

Despite the strong winds, no major incidents were reported around the Rock due to the storm.

There was restricted access to North Mole yesterday as “loose flying material” from both the Waterport office building and Waterport Terraces crashed down close to the Evacuation roundabout, a government spokesman said.

Sections of the road were sealed off by the Royal Gibraltar Police while the area was made safe.

Aside from the incident at Waterport the RGP said there was no other major occurrence. Some trees were down and this resulted in a short temporary closure of a road while they were removed.

At the southern end of the Rock, a number of roof tiles at the Gibraltar University were ripped away by the wind, although the damage was said to be minor and there was no water ingress.

A contractor was on the scene yesterday afternoon to deal with the issue.

The airport was open but the first flight of the day from London Gatwick had to be diverted to Malaga.

The Bristol flight was cancelled due to the adverse weather conditions in the UK, while the British Airways flight from Heathrow was delayed but managed to land in Gibraltar.

The Fire Brigade said they did not attend any major incidents, although its personnel dealt with routine calls about shutters, awnings and roof sheets being blown away. There were no reports of anyone been injured.