British Winter: Storm Heroes (Extreme Weather Documentary) | Real Stories

the winter of 2014-15 was this sunniest on record [Music] but that's not the whole story whilst those in London and the South basked in the sunshine the rest of the country was battening down the hatches icicles this is the other side of Britain's winter film by the public themselves it's really wild it's scary no heating no power no Falls everything's just a disaster and it's the story of the people whose jobs take them into the storm you may want to go home you're not going home saving lives on casualty while risking their own [Music] why [Music] this winter saw higher than usual winds across the country the most extreme conditions were seen in Scotland and England's Northwest Britain's biggest and highest mountain range the Cairngorms regularly gets the strongest winds in the country ensuring its mountain rescue team is one of the busiest in the UK on the 7th of January 2015 Luke Copeland and Alex Kirby are caught in the first big storm of the year this is their story cold and windy tonight especially in the north wintry showers will push in from the West giving way to heavy rain and mountains a powerful storm is going to pass just to the north of the UK tonight that means it's going to turn stormy across much of Scotland in the next 12 hours snow falling across the tops and the Scottish mountains it's their second day camping on ben macdui the highest points in the Cairngorms they are unaware of the approaching storm it will be a miserable day oh they're very stormy conditions possibly disruptive weather and even dangerous weather in places with winds gusting a cess of 90 miles per hour the storm comes in fast with intermittent phone signal the pair use Internet messaging to alert a friend that they might be in trouble she's still got whatsapp signal yeah [Music] [Music] forty minutes later they lose visibility in a complete whiteout [Music] came through that the two chaps have been trying to cross the plateau and they became exhausted had been hammered by the way I've put the tent up and the tent got trashed all the gear was weight and they just simply could not progress any further and the only way we could get through to these two chaps was by text message but it was very intermittent because the rail was so bad that they say did that our only option was the same a small team of four to look at the grid reference but I wasn't confident that they were actually at the location that they had said they'd react well the time some people got my credo reference wrong even one figure in that suits very good reference could be them I also have on a different menu this could be a wild goose chase what's happening to three hours they know we're nowhere but they know what we got we just got to stay warm and we might decide for the night but they know where we are [Music] to get to the difference that Lee said there were are Wars close to 3,000 feet and the wind speed on kim gwang was measured 110 miles an hour but I did feel compelled to simply check that the drift and sort of heated to find them there in the morning having succumb to the river as you're going up on of the ridge it's getting worse and worse there's probably hurricane force type winds you can't see em from the snores in your face and you're thinking it's a any actual point of us going out there for these conditions we're not going to be able to function [Music] we've got about 200 meters away from the reference to the guys have given us and the batteries went dead on my GPS just because I've been so called when you are aware that window was decreasing very quickly trying to find someone in buzzard conditions of the can grant a tool your chances are non-existent it was very very appreciative and sometimes it takes we go through and sometimes it wouldn't so was always a delay with the message I say our team tried to get close of them [Music] and then all of a sudden they're here you know and you've got this like light flashing around and they are just there and we just see this hand and I can't really see a face cuz I'll say that's like loads of light outside from weather talk to them stuff there's art relief to get the guys who raise them no boots are outside the main body of their town for the snow that can't be a nice thing to have to put on called boots and then four guys are just gonna march as quick as they can back to their region high cotton I was shivering quite a bit on Mike some way murmuring the words and those things like that it's easily the worst I've ever been on [Music] there's a nice moment when you get to the helicopter then you know this hand reaches down it holds you in and then well that's it we were well equipped we knew roughly what we're doing it is completely caught off guard of how bad the Lobos and I don't think we're allowed to complain as cold anymore [Music] could have been a really long night for us but super happy that the helicopter mice come in and pick us up with the two guys I was I was going [Music] over the next few days Scotland would be battered by a succession of storm fronts bringing with them the most powerful gusts of the winter [Music] hello this is my house this is where I live my name is Tommy Hyneman I live on Farrell the most remote inhabited island in the UK Farrell's famous for knitwear and bird-watching both which I appreciate stormy weather on the cards from all of us over the next few days in the shape of a couple of pretty fierce winter storms lots of weather warnings in force tonight we've got an Amber be prepared warning from the Met Office covering the North West Highlands the Outer Hebrides orthey widely gusts of 80 to 90 miles per hour and even in excess of 100 world certainly disruption to travel potentially disrupt you to Paris of life and maybe from structural damage Julian thank you very much sounds grim we are well warned [Music] just about lost my hat there it's really blowing a gale out there it's really wild here my jacket this is the aleatory so we've got there's no that huge squirrel gonna come here [Music] sleepy storms beginning I come in for the Erica Baldwin's are beginning to pick up however the worst of the weather is due to hit between 12:00 midnight and 4:00 in the morning so it's batten down the hatches tonight and then see what tomorrow brings [Music] graduation cheered at Stornoway Harbor the conditions are atrocious and yet this storm has still to reach as predicted peak for people here it's a case of watching and waiting and hoping [Music] [Music] [Music] it's 40 and the storm has reached its peak with winds topping hurricane force here in Stornoway the habit that's been wreaked is plain to see 20 plus 6 in the morning tonight this house wouldn't be like that side once again spike all we were told to expect a ferocious storm and you know that's exactly what we got right across the country pretty ports and wind speeds last night highest story we 113 miles an hour and that matches the story of records stretching all the way back to 1962 very stressful everyone left to have no eating in the houses no power no phones you know everything was just a disaster the hurricane force storm which slammed into Scotland last night brought down power lines and caused travel chaos with disruption to roared rail and ferry services success you know I tried to go flat again unfortunately buried it off keep my friends but she passed away her and get here so I really hope I get to make it to her after all [Music] this winter some of Britain's biggest storms took place out on the North Sea 112 man crew had front-row seats young chief Fox on board and ER RV which is an emergency response and rescue vessel we work in the North Sea for a month at a time non-stop supports in the old platforms if there's a platform evacuation or if somebody falls off a platform where there to rescue them no matter how bad this weather gets that's our location we're staying there to rescue people just nobody's ever heard of us we'd be every different direction so there's no comfortable direction to dodge it so it's not to stay here that platform is a bit of a bugger which is all getting worse used to be a bit of fun now in the winter storms and hurricanes now they're getting a bit serious pardon the preparation for bird weather showing down all the vents and flaps we have them open for ventilation but we start taking apices it comes out through the vents in accommodation waves over 14 meters in height are classified by scientists as phenomenon the most extreme winds those that reach hurricane level are known as force 12 this season Graham and his crew experienced both we expect without a foresight we're not getting a forced 12-plus I'm driving about four hours on eight hours off so eight hours a day in normal conditions that's not a problem but when it's run it's bad in your hand steering it's exhausting their waves are about 20 meters but there it's okay it's when they're breaking you can see a white light in the distance and that's the wave breaking and they get closer and closer and closer it's just that feeling of when you know that waivers couldn't hit you reduce the speed back to zero to reduce the impact and then of course the way if it comes out the top here you're down into the trough and then to get up the next wave give it a maximum speed so you you don't stand into the one next to it and smashing windows and that rocks at two or three days the forced felt part of it you just want to stick it out you may want to go home you're not going home you're staying with the boat on location until the contracts over so don't even bother say you want to go home because I think they're bloody happen on the other side of Britain Milford Haven is one of the most exposed ports in the UK but it's a crucial energy hub handling nearly a third of all Britain's seaborne trade in oil and gas enormous fuel tankers must be safely docked whatever the weather I'm senior captain on the pilot folks know that even the ships are we handle come from all over the world and so they require some of your local knowledge the boredom and guide the ship in so it's cargo can be offloaded my role is to take those pilots and safely transfer them to the ship's it's all about using my ship to give a pilot the best chance of getting up and down the ladder we're great for this well the more the ship will roll pitch and that obviously increases the worse for wear there gets and the more movement you've got with the ship the harder our job is the UK's energy is on a bit of a knife edge and stocks and although certainly gas so it's very reliant on us bringing certain ships in whatever the weather stored Rachel arrived during the course of today with Gail or severe gales stronger along the coastline to the west I mean we're aware on a severe wind alert today a hundred miles air power sea conditions are dangerous the biometric treasure is mine eight for millibars the Sun going down tonight at 429 a pilot from Milford Haven has maneuvered an empty oil tanker the British Robin out to sea but now Ian needs to get the pilot back off the ship in a 6-meter swell caused by the storm as we approached the British Robin she begins to roll severely it's so far out of the water it feels like it's gonna sort of crush you back into the order that's where the judgment comes that when one job is safe to do another isn't it wasn't safe to disembark either the pilot had to stay on board and wasn't able to disembark until the tanker reached port in father he then had a six-hour taxi journey back to milford-haven we're unable to hold pilots present due to the sea conditions we have heared rumors that you know fish if doesn't manage to come in for two or three days and that has had an effect on their on the [ __ ] on the price of gas gas has gone up by 10% because milford-haven have gone 2 or 3 gas ships waiting for the birth due to weather conditions 10 miles offshore another tanker loaded with 35,000 tons of fuel oil worth 7 million pounds is waiting for a pilot to bring her into port oh yeah oh yeah yeah yeah there's a special request from the oil terminal to bring the ship in we know we can't bring it at the moment well we're going to put the super' attempt to put the pilot on every your call whether they go alongside or not and then it'll be the parts call whether to do the boring yeah over their best shot see what happens here you'll probably get one good chance of embarking his pilots it's getting dark visibility is probably down to three or four miles if he misses that chance then it's probably that's probably his only chance well last time I checked there was a seven meters so it's enough the storm that we're in Canada now is severe as we've had this year there are split seconds when the boat suddenly does something you're not expecting and you go quote and your heart skips a beat when things start to become more extreme you start to focus more when the pilots on the deck is sent even good time when your mind is motor for this worst-case scenario is obviously and lot of life it's only a rope ladder if we made contact with that ladder and stretch it they can break then obviously if you've got men on that ladder that's a man that's gonna end up winning the water or being crushed between us in the ship as soon as he was on the ladder everyone's happy done and bishops coming in and go home happy [Music] [Applause] [Music] the UK averages 16 days a year when snow settles on the ground in the winter of 2014-15 the South of England saw just two days of light snow while the north and Scotland had over 30 days of snow in the world looking pretty treacherous [Music] yeah snowflakes is biggest wave of mine [Music] me going out in that yeah if I were you [Music] so bad you're not making a snow angel Joseph do you know why why because this is a farm truck and they've been luck spreading you've just ruined that dream I know the a9 is a crucial transport artery connecting central Scotland to Inverness its high elevation makes it prone to heavy snowfalls and gives it its reputation as Scotland's most dangerous road commuters on the e9 faced another day of treacherous driving conditions the driver of a body escaped injury after he left the roads near a be warned my name's Neil Mariner a victim comedy company hey when the jobs get tough we are the guys at the caller if your tire is traveling safe I'm there they respond for you heavily it was good for all the tanker I knew one day completely off through the new trees so now it's our task to try and get the vehicle if we race and then recover about the illnesses you can get that appeal [Music] forget Queen Lloyd I start the fake things where's our volunteer ways for the police but follow I'll see the things we'll see how we're going [Music] expensive could be 100,000 Facebook so we tell you do as little damage as possible and that way they complete that vehicle back on the road their conditions are started deteriorating weather gets really really heavy we may end up stranded up here because we can't get by at the base we did better things we were the challenge in the point of view a sunny day [Music] [Applause] we do know is home to over forewarning it would not be this jammed in the state of it we have capability of winching up to 25 times the Tigers probably Weezer in about 15 well as I mentioned my truck has slayed him but there was a tank we can't get the thug to see itself then what we've got to do is treat additional equipment into the game to stop the talk from Slater which Horace liquor stores affect that in the woman I reuse a thing called scope what a lot of one was on vehicles ago I throw it legs it go down boy and that's what fatal Oh wine you like it for this way to deal apologies and once we get this to stop moving they're not don't you come over where they but you could buy click that Thank You Listeria I suppose I might play tomorrow determination job satisfaction it's it's you get quit your voice when you've actually got the vehicle let's move it note the overcome the resistance wonders for Diwali very late Phaneuf it's more chilly McFly is coming together and I'm talking oh wait no it's no hardly I'm so good and I'm cold and I'm not very happy that's where the tree was embedded and mmm between the exhaust and the wheel or managed to get to out those they were doing any of you little dumbest of equal because that's probably one of the most expensive parts gonna feel well sweetheart they're very hot between their jobs good I'm pretty sure the customer will be as well lianna's over here I figured dispense the next wave bye right well that's been a challenge for today [Music] and there I'll be glad to figure out it's hot cuppa tea ready for the next challenge [Music] SpaceX's the slaughter burger at least four to five although I'm a blog social police is 8 inches hello my name is Cosmo and a 16 years old and I went very weather doctor doctor UK a weather blog on the internet which you can go and check out I cyclin or whether it's under pen eyes in northern England to showcase the weather there and show it to people and lower levels to make them jealous of the massive snow that we get up here but most people are learning about go looking out the window to even see the snow I'm actually going out into the business and getting the full force of the of the conditions in late January Buxton and Derbyshire saw 30 centimetres of lying snow the deepest of the winter snow showers have continued overnight and we have heavy snow right now in Buxton other freezing conditions and significant wind chill coupled with the snowfall means that all roads in the area of snow affected literally everywhere across the high beach is affected by snow ice please people it was classic mountain rescue call that time which is about 3:30 4:30 in the afternoon it was getting darker was getting colder and all we knew at that point was we were looking for two young men you know who are in who are in real trouble and potentially suffering from mild hypothermia as we started to get closer towards kinder the conditions really started to deteriorate it's very exposed you know it's high moorland and some of the Bucks America rescue team members could couldn't get there couldn't get to the RV it's a halibel or worse not all come on the beam that do you oh you can see cars that are abandoned the drifts and the snow on either side were very high and lots of people were stuck everywhere and that might drive him very difficult so we were worried about these guys and we wanted to find them quickly first control boxes and robots free ahead of me they've been a scouting party or two we then bring more kit so they're things like pain relief splinting bandages we took most of the kit we have because we didn't know what to expect when to climb a couple of hundred meters and the overall distance was about four point two kilometers so not that far but it was um cheeky walking on a great big wedding cake in there absolutely bloody rancid as we got higher on the ridge wind was blowing all the snow over so the path had disappeared there was a series of ridges and fumes of snow and you'd step off to where you thought there was a party can you think five-foot you know it's so deep it's so deep it was an exhausting climb actually coupled with terrifyingly cold winds [Music] so we just got somewhat Kindle there was chatter on the radio and they found them one of the chaps he was suffering from cramp you know and they found them and they were they were they were okay and they were able to walk them down off the hill so we've got to the hoist but basically the house pulled pretty much and there now we've got to go back down again are you and me we start down now so yeah don't worry about our chicken if you can't be asked and we'll just have something easy I don't know there's a card in the oven and chips and peas there you go we'll have that I love you okay so that's it the job's done easy right and go home you know have a cup of tea go to Pam lovely but no no it wasn't to be [Music] in the time we've been up the wind was just pulling snow off the tops of all of kinder scout and just going straight across roads it stops at walls and features in the landscape so you get these incredible jeans and that you know nothing can get past it we've made our one stop you know something chic ease of a foot and abandoned or is here there was a car that someone had just asked in the middle of the road so they they've got as far as they cared and just left it would you go any further I just believe in the middle of the road an angle nothing can get past it unless you're eight guys with a shovel who want to go home what oh sorry there's six of us I think digging like wild prairie dogs trying to try a shift all the snow before the wind is blowing it all back - our boy [Music] I thought we were pretty good yeah now then I say I think we should well we can need to pull it out the way we won't get through that that is the shitty shitty dog [ __ ] out here there's no point mucking about emergency vehicle still have to get through snowplows have to get through and we had to get through any minute and that kind of weather we could have another call you know what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and you know it's character-building isn't it the end of the day I can't believe this one in a minute I'm locked in we can try and defrost them to get out it keeps locking itself On January 2015 saw some sharp Frost's with temperatures dropping below minus 13 in parts of Scotland and south of the border the freezing conditions were also causing chaos this is Charlie reporting from Swinson in Manchester as you can see I'm gang hit by pea sized hail stones they're coming through thick and fast they're getting bigger almost took my eyeballs the freezing temperatures helped to build a good base of snow giving Scotland more ski days than last year [Music] January was also the busiest at the winter for the volunteers who risk their own lives to help those in trouble on the Kandor mountains the Karakoram mountain rescue team was called out to a climber who to fallen during a blizzard a 25 year old man fell while climbing it's about 3,500 feet in Cory and taka the quarry of snows people who hang out in these conditions are advised to be well prepared restoring flamers twofold watch them so forth the child who reported the incident came across him by chance we knew from the word go this was a serious rescue they needed a full team : this was going to be a stretch Akari and if you if you're going to have a stretch of carry-on winter you need a minimum of 24 people some of the team members identities and could go in the hill so I - the dustman geared get my gear down and go and lend a hand [Music] the weather conditions are on scene meaning that we can't get a helicopter in to evacuate the gentlemen the aircraft was storm burned at least it couldn't even take off at least for someone like the casualty who'd been lying here for a few hours you know tames of the essence because hyper thermals are very very real danger the casualty was in pretty bad shape from what we saw when we got there but had he not been fine and he would have been in a worse situation [Music] [Music] we took one of our Viking mattresses which is a mattress filled with polystyrene beads and we take the air out of that mattress and it just goes rigid to bring this body she was like a big splint but also insulates him and keeps him warm as well the helicopter gets in touch with us over the radio and tells us that they are going to make an attempt to get in because it's a small way that one a gentleman could potentially be off the mountainside and in five to ten minutes and in hospital in half an hour trying to go as quickly as possible because we knew that was very challenging conditions for them so they're probably flying on that one as it is and just as the helicopter came in to try and pick him up the way that cause done again and they had to pull off we tried two or three times to come in the weather for the helicopter it just keeps coming scrolling showers the situation completely changes - this is going to taste maybe two or three hours to get them down to the car park we need to probate eight on the stretch at any one time and we're going over a boulder fields we have to pass the stretch of between us or over all those rocks you think you're you're doing quite well and you you're traveling quite fast and you realize we're yarn with when we come a couple hundred meters and in ten minutes or so [Music] Steve's very sore anytime there's any movement or any jaw during to the stretcher and he's screaming and payment at times the air crew kept trying to land when the weather cleared at all [Music] and then it breaks through the blizzard and it's coming pretty much right right over us and and it's just yeah a great result all around I think yeah he would have died without being rescued that chat was looking like Emily forbade me I I don't think I was particularly aware of everything was going on the only thing I could think was I'm conscious I'm alive the mentor he was an open fracture to my iliac crest also the top part of my pelvis and which is essentially just a fracture so I can still walk luckily to get back into the madness is kind of the main focus of my physiotherapy at minute avid climber and they're very key mice in here so the sooner that I can get back into the mountains the better [Music] without the mic mask it's it's not even sure if I would have made a Ida for my dance at all to be honest and without them I probably wouldn't be here the people that venture into this storm to save lives or to keep britain running her facing winters that are more unsettled and difficult to predict over the last 115 years seven of the 10 most extreme winter conditions occurred in the last decade wild an erotic weather may be something we all have to get used to [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Real Stories

Views: 157,484

Keywords: North Sea winter storms, Raw TV, Real Stories, UK, blizzards, climatic conditions, community spirit, disaster relief, first person account, human resilience, humanitarian efforts, icy roads, maritime operations, ordinary Brits, real stories channel, rescue boat, rescuers' perspectives., storm rescue, true stories, weather forecasters, weather patterns analysis

Id: ozCVTbkEG1c

Length: 47min 1sec (2821 seconds)

Published: Wed May 23 2018