Coventry Resident Relieved to be Absent During Car Port Collapse in Storm Darragh

Debbie Cooper, a resident of Eastern Green, Coventry, has detailed how her car port was reduced to “just rubble” and other sections of her home sustained damage during Storm Darragh. Speaking to BBC CWR, Ms. Cooper expressed thankfulness that no one was at home when bricks detached from an adjacent property due to strong winds on Saturday evening. She stated, “It was amazing really that we weren’t in the property when it happened, we had popped to my daughter’s for an hour.” In Warwickshire, a separate woman extended her gratitude to individuals who aided her and her 15-year-old daughter after a portion of a tree penetrated their car’s windscreen, narrowly missing the daughter, in Leek Wootton on Saturday evening. The woman wrote on social media, “To say we were extremely lucky is an understatement.” Police reported that the storm generated “unprecedented demand,” with the Warwickshire control room receiving 671 calls on Saturday. In Coventry, Ms. Cooper described her shock upon discovering the damage after returning from visiting her daughter and grandchildren. She remarked, “We went out and we came back to see that the car port had just collapsed on the driveway and it’s been horrendous.” Ms. Cooper indicated that the damaged structure had been assessed as safe by the council and fire service on Saturday, but she now believes its condition has since worsened. She is currently apprehensive about using her kitchen due to concerns about a potential roof collapse. “The bricks are on the roof to the extension of the kitchen and that is about to give way,” she stated. Ms. Cooper, who has contacted her insurers, mentioned that the car port’s roof had been repaired only a week prior. Despite her distress, she expressed relief that no one was injured. “We could have been so easily caught underneath it,” Ms. Cooper commented. She further explained that some of the car port’s weight was resting on scaffolding, which had been erected because their home was undergoing a new roof construction. She concluded, “If it hadn’t have been there I think it would have crashed into the house and we wouldn’t have been able to get in and out of the front door.”