Residents across West Cornwall have been some of the worst affected by the storm with schools closed, trees and graves disturbed and thousands left without power and electricity for days on end.
Just hours after the storm brought winds of more than 100mph to Cornwall, a local farmer spotted that two large trees were blocking a carriageway on the main Helston to Porthleven road and were dangerously hidden around a blind bend.
Not wanting locals to be isolated or risking their lives on the roads, farmer Martin Wallis sprung into action, blocking the road, which surrounded his farmland, and clearing the trees that had fallen.
Martin, who runs Penventon Farm just outside of Helston, enlisted the help of two of his farm workers who set out with him armed with a JCB, a tractor and a chainsaw on a mission to clear the road.
Thanks to Martin’s quick actions, the road was cleared in just one afternoon with local residents praising and thanking him for his act of kindness.
Storm impact
NFU member and dairy farmer Martin said: “Helston has been devastated by the storms – a lot of people still don’t have water or electricity since the storm first hit last Thursday.
“For us, thankfully we’ve got a borehole for water and, as we live just outside of Helston, we’re on the Porthleven supply for electricity, so we are fortunately okay on our farm, but the majority of our neighbouring farmers have no electricity and are running on generators.”
The roots of another fallen tree also ripped up water pipes, leaving thousands in Helston with no water.
“From my farm looking towards Helston, there were about eight trees that had fallen by the road but two of them were around a blind bend blocking a carriageway so people were having to cross the road on the blind bend to get around the trees.
“There are still farmers working today to help their communities and there will be farmers working tomorrow.”
NFU member and dairy Farmer Martin Wallis
“If you’re coming from the other direction, you couldn’t even see the tree round the corner so you’d come round at a normal speed and see a car in your lane driving around a tree and straight towards you!
“I could see both corners from my house with the trees in the road and I didn’t want to sit at home and do other stuff and leave those trees where they were and wait for the council to sort it.”
After tackling 10 to 12 trees that had blown over on the back lanes of the farm, Martin and his team headed for the “more dangerous” main road.
Villagers grateful
Martin continued: “The villagers of Porthleven loved it. Our cows cross the road every day and over the years we have had very little complaints or people being impatient – it’s actually lovely, when you stop a car with a cow crossing. The kids in the back of the car will wave at the cows and the parents will be filming the cows from the front.
“The villagers have always been very patient and nice to our cows when they cross the road four times a day, so clearing the road for them was our way of saying thank you from the cows.”
‘It shows what we do as farmers’
He added: “It shows what we do as farmers – this wasn’t the council or the government, this was just me as a farmer wanting to clear the road for my neighbours and I feel quite happy and proud that I could do that for them.
“We’ve got a JCB, a tractor and a chainsaw on the farm already, it’s just a case of grabbing them and doing it, so we did, and I don’t think there’s many farmers around who have got those machines who would see a tree at the bottom of their road and not do it.
“The biggest chunk of tree must have weighed more than 3.5 tonnes because the JCB couldn’t lift it – I reckon it was around five tonnes – so that was quite a thing to move and there was a queue of cars who patiently waited while we cleared it and all thanked me afterwards, which was nice.
“We just used our common sense and our experience, which is what farmers are about.
“For years, the government has been on the backs of farmers and they don’t realise how beneficial we are, so when we do things like this, people then realise that we greatly benefit the country, keeping us moving with no cost to the council and getting the roads back up to speed in half a day rather than what could have been two weeks.
“There are still farmers working today to help their communities and there will be farmers working tomorrow, so on that basis, the government should do something to support us more because we support them.”
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Photographs: Martin Wallis
