Graves disturbed in Cornwall after Storm Goretti uproots trees

More details of damage caused by Storm Goretti in Cornwall are continuing to emerge.

Several graves were disturbed after trees were uprooted at a cemetery near Mousehole as the storm hit on Thursday.

The National Trust has also said thousands of trees at its properties and gardens had fallen and would cost “hundreds of thousands of pounds” to remove.

Following the storm on Thursday, more than 300 homes in Cornwall were still without power at 11:00 on Tuesday, according to the National Grid.

Seven schools in the county are closed or opening late on Tuesday, most of them in The Lizard area which was among the areas hit hardest by the storm.

people planning to use the train between Par and Newquay face another day of disruption with services cancelled for the rest of the day due to the strong winds toppling trees onto the tracks and damaging signalling systems. Replacement bus services are in place.

Water supplies are back on in Helston, although South West Water warned some taps may still run brown.

The company said the discolouration should clear after running the cold kitchen tap for an hour, and added: “The water is fine to drink.”

They warned it could take up to 24 hours to return to normal.

Local resident Rob Blunsdon said the damage at Paul cemetery near Mousehole was “heartbreaking for the relatives of the people that are buried here, especially as some of them are quite recent graves”.

“I was really shocked by the way the graves had been disturbed, but then you forget, they’re shallow rooted trees.”

Truro Golf Club said the fierce winds ripped through the course, felling up to 100 trees and forcing the club to shut its doors.

The damage stretches across the course on the outskirts of the city, with firs and conifers snapped and scattered – the course is likely to be closed for at least another week.

Ian Marsh, the charity’s assistant director for the South West, said: “This is the worst storm I’ve seen in my 16 years with the National Trust.

“Tenants and properties have lost power and water, roads are impassable, and many thousands of trees have been damaged.

“Several of our places remain closed and it will take months of work to get some of our woodlands open and accessible again.”

He said the damage had been “devastating” for the trust and its supporters.

“We get storms every year but this was exceptional in terms of its impact,” he told BBC Radio Cornwall.

“You start to total up the damage – whether it’s a tree that’s taken out a fence line or if a gate’s taken out – it all costs money.”

Adam Carveth, head gardener for Trerice, Glendurgan and Trelissick, said the scale of the damage was “quite a shock”.

“There were just trees down everywhere,” he said.

“It’s a lot of big old trees – once one goes it’s like dominoes.”

St Ives Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George said: “If this happened in London or the home counties, the government would have declared national emergency.”

The government said it had been working with local authorities, network engineers and emergency responders to restore services.

A No 10 spokesperson said the government understood “the difficulties faced by communities in Cornwall” and it was “continuing to work round the clock with local authorities, network engineers and emergency responders to make that happen”.

“On Sunday, ministers and MPs held an emergency response meeting with water companies in Cornwall to drive the changes needed to restore water supply while prioritising vulnerable customers, and we will continue to provide whatever support is needed to communities,” they explained.