CORNWALL’S capital was at the eye of Storm Goretti, which brought down trees across Truro and saw hundreds of homes left without electricity.

Power outages ranged from hundreds of homes in the dark in the Highertown area, to a cluster of properties in Bodmin Road where a row of telegraph poles was damaged by a falling tree branch, resulting in live electric cables strewn across the footpath next to a primary school. The National Grid website predicted that most would be waiting until the weekend for power to be restored.

Ron Kidd’s home in Bodmin Road lost power barely 18 months after his last outage, caused by Storm Bert in November 2024. “I have struggled to get hold of the National Grid. I know they are busy but this was a major incident with power cables lying on the floor for people to step on,” he said.

“When trees come down here, it could easily harm pedestrians or traffic. The council needs to manage the trees to reduce the danger. Everyone says it’s about money, but reducing the prospect of anything happening will reduce the cost in the long run – and what price a life?”

First Bus driver Jonathan Keam gave vivid reports of his final Park and Ride journeys last night [Thursday, January 8], from Tregurra to Langarth at 6.40pm returning at 7.10pm, by which time the A390 at Union Hill was blocked by a fallen tree.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Jonathan. “On the way over to Langarth, I pick up the hospital workers in town, who with me saw the lightning that took out Highertown. The road in and out of Treliske Hospital was a mat of tree branches and leaves.

“All the fencing, barriers and cones between Truro College roundabout and Threemilestone had blown everywhere. The solar panels on the office building at Langarth Park & Ride had blown off the roof which made for an interesting exit from Langarth.”

Many secondary schools closing early yesterday, or at the very least cancelled after-school activities. By Friday morning, those schools that had planned late openings threw in the towel and closed for the weekend, citing student and staff safety in hazardous travel conditions.

Truro Health Park, home to Three Spires and Lander practices, remained open but “working with reduced staffing levels” due to travel disruption, leading to late-running clinics. Patients were advised to check before travelling, and invited to reschedule if they felt it was unsafe to travel. Surgeries in Probus, St Agnes and Carnon Downs were among those left without power.

At Truro Cathedral, staff were assessing damage to the roof, where a loss of lead had allowed rain into the building. The Chapter House roof was severely affected, and the skylight in the cathedral offices has blown away. However, the cathedral was open as usual, and the show Time by Luxmuralis, due to start on Monday, will not be affected.

Truro City Council offices opened as usual, and staff had their hands full dealing with incidents on the ground and calls from concerned residents. Victoria Gardens remained closed all day, while in Boscawen Park, work began to clear branches strewn across paths in the park and around the duck pond.

Town Clerk David Rodda said the parks and gardens department was dealing with dozens of fallen trees around the city, with Coosebean woodland sustaining the highest tally. City council teams also helped to remove a tree blocking the road into the neighbouring parish of Malpas.

“In building terms, we’ve sustained one cracked window pain, which is quite lucky,” said Mr Rodda. “We’ll remember this storm for some time to come, that’s for sure. It’s the strongest in my experience. I’d like to thank the residents for heeding the red weather warnings – the city centre was very quiet yesterday afternoon – and the emergency services for dealing with the aftermath.”