Brighton West Pier Collapse: Storm Austen Smashes Iconic Landmark as 111mph Winds Batter UK

Photo: Les Chatfield, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0) — the West Pier in calmer days (illustrative; not the collapse footage)

I've watched a fair amount of storm footage, but the sight of Brighton's West Pier surrendering another chunk of itself to the sea never gets any less melancholy. On Friday, Storm Austen did what fire, arson and 160 years of salt water have done before — it tore a fresh section off the derelict landmark and dropped it into the Channel. Footage obtained by the BBC shows one side of the structure folding into huge waves.

The pier was already a ghost. Opened in 1866, with its final building — a concert hall — completed in 1916, it closed to the public in 1975 and was declared beyond repair by English Heritage after two devastating arson attacks in 2003. Since then every big storm has whittled away its iron frame a little more. Friday's gust of 111mph, recorded at Padstow in Cornwall — with 97mph logged at St Ives by a National Coastguard station — simply did what the sea always does to ruins. Onlookers gathered along the seafront as the waves pounded the remains of the structure, with footage of the moment a section gave way spreading widely online.

Storm Austen 110mph winds: what the storm did across Britain

The first named storm of the season hit hard. On Friday afternoon more than 31,000 homes in the South West were without power, according to a National Grid spokesperson — though engineers had already restored power to more than 52,000 properties. The Met Office issued amber warnings for wind covering parts of northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with "danger to life" warnings in force as the storm churned toward the half-term holidays.

Travel and schools took a hammering. Eighty-seven schools in Cornwall either opened late or closed entirely. Schools in Guernsey shut as a precaution, ferries to the Isles of Scilly were suspended, and Exeter Airport cancelled flights. Southampton Airport cancelled the majority of its Friday morning services — to the Channel Islands, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast — while Guernsey-based airline Aurigny cancelled all its services. Holidaymakers flying from Heathrow, Gatwick or London City were told to check before travelling, and Haven shut its Perran Sands and Riviere Sands holiday parks in Cornwall, according to reports.

Storm Boelo amber warning: more severe weather tonight

There is little respite in sight. The Met Office has issued a fresh amber warning for wind from Storm Boelo — in place for 24 hours from 9pm on Saturday, covering Scotland, the north coast of Northern Ireland, and Cumbria and Northumberland in northern England. A yellow warning for rain also covered much of Scotland on Friday. The Met Office says the weekend’s warnings mean further disruption to travel and power is possible, with coastal areas at particular risk from large waves.

Professor Fred Grey, an honorary historian of the West Pier Trust, has watched this slow-motion disappearance for years. "Everyone should stay at a safe distance and watch the battle between pier and the elements," he has said of the structure. "We don't know when the pier will eventually disappear beneath the waves, but disappear it will." He added that ever since the 2003 arson attacks, the pier "has been whittled away by nature. All ruins are alive and ever-changing, and this is true of the West Pier." Friday was simply the sea's latest visit — and with Boelo on the way tonight, it may not be the last of this weekend.

Sources

• Independent TV (YouTube) — Storm Austen: Part of Brighton West pier collapses as winds up to 110mph batter UK
• The Sun — Second storm set to batter UK this weekend after Storm Austen brought chaos