Minister to view damage to sea wall at North Berwick

TRANSPORT Minister Keith Brown will today visit North Bewrick to assess damage – estimated at £500,000 – to sea defences.

Large parts of the harbour’s sea wall was swept away after a 40ft container plunged into the dock in the early hours of Saturday morning as storms battered the East Coast. A number of other boats and vessels were also damaged.

Gerry Hughes, chairman of the North Berwick Harbour Trust Association, said he believed the storm was the worst in more than 100 years. He said: “This was a massive storm causing damage to sea walls that have stood for 150-odd years.

“The wind strength wasn’t all that high, but the sea was absolutely beyond understanding. In the harbour you have a 40ft sea container that was washed approximately 200m, took away some fencing, and went straight into the harbour.

“There were also sea defence boulders weighing up to 200 kilos washed 150m along the esplanade, so that gives you the size and some sort of scale of the energy of the whole thing.”