"I'm very apprehensive because it's my livelihood" – Beach businesses batten down the hatches as Storm Goretti nears

Beach cafés and business across the island spent today preparing for the worst storm since Ciarán, with coastal areas expected to be among the worst hit by high winds and tides.

Jayne Gruchy, owner of Hooray Henri’s at Harve des Pas, spent this morning moving all of her tables and chairs to the old station waiting room, and bring signage inside before the storm hit.

She told Express earlier today: “I’m very apprehensive because it’s my livelihood. I’m surprised that no big sandbags have been put out as they were for the other one [Storm Ciarán]”.

Pictured: Large sand bags were placed at the top of the slipway at Harve des Pas in preparation for Storm Ciarán.

As of this evening, sandbags had been placed at the corner of Edinburgh House, but not on the Havre des Pas slipway.

Jersey Met has forecast winds of up to 90mph tonight, just shy of Storm Ciarán’s top wind speed of 106mph. Emergency authorities have now declared a ‘major incident’.

Clare Carney, the owner of Little Gem in St Aubin, said she was hoping that the direction of the wind will ensure her café remains relatively sheltered.

“If it was an easterly [wind direction] I would be worried,” she said. “Tomorrow I’ll go down and see if there’s any damage.”

While some Jersey businesses were dreading the arrival of Storm Goretti earlier today, others appeared to be taking it in their stride – with one beach kiosk owner hoping to keep up her 20-year streak of avoiding storm damage.

Pictured: Rhona Hewit at Rhona’s at the Beach.

Rhona Hewit, who runs Rhona’s by the Beach, said: “We’ve just got to kind of hope that it all works out. I’ve been here 20 years and we’ve never had any damage.”

However, she had told staff to close up and go home early.

“It’s not about work today it’s about staying safe,” she added.

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