A WINTRY grip descended on East Hampshire this week – just days after the district was battered by gale-force winds. Wednesday morning's snowfall, with as much as four inches recorded in places, made travelling treacherous, but proved a real tonic for schoolchildren. It followed last Thursday's high winds, which left a trail of destruction in their wake. Wind reached speeds of 75 miles per hour as they blew across East Hampshire, and metereological experts told The Herald that the gales roared through the Isle of Wight at a boggling 99mph. Electrical engineers worked flat out as calls flooded in from householders reporting power failures in the district. But firefighters said Petersfield escaped the worst of the damage. Just nine miles up the road in Liphook, two familes escaped with their lives when a huge oak tree crashed through the roof of their Midhurst Road homes, causing thousands of pounds of damage. Private contractors and firefighters worked side by side to remove the tree, and experts were callled in to assess the cost of repairs. Motorists reported trees blown across roads throughout the Petersfield. Several drivers in Hatch Lane, near Rake, had to avoid a huge tree which blew acoss the carriageway on Thursday afternoon. And in Liphook's Portsmouth Road, several motorists left their cars to help an off-duty tree expert remove a tree fallen which blocked both lanes. A spokesman for Whitehill traffic police said: "The A3 northbound was quite busy, and because of the weather conditions motorists were being especially careful." Staff at Southern Electric were inundated with emergency calls to restore the power to many homes across East Hampshire after trees fell on overhead electricity cables. Emergency staff were brought in from Scotland before the forecast gales to help cope with the anticipated flood of calls to Southern Electric. A spokesman for Southern Electric told The Herald: "Out of the 150,000 homes that were left without power across the whole of Hampshire on Thursday, 100,000 were restored on Thursday night. The remainder of the homes were back on the following day." The spokesman added: "It was difficult and dangerous for our staff to climb on to the poles to fix the errors because of the severe weather conditions." A few homes were without electricity for three days, but engineers worked through the night to restore power as quickly as possible. Southern Electric director Mark Mathieson said: "I would like to thank our customers for their messages of support and patience while we battled to restore power. "We understand how the loss of power impacts on people's lives and how frustrating it can be."
