HITHCIN: The calm after the storm

Our town attended down the hatches and survived the biggest storm to hit our area in more than 30 years on Friday.

While a number of trees were felled by gale force winds buildings in Hitchin avoided structural damage seen elsewhere.

And while storm winds reached around 60mph at the top of Windmill Hill (as you can see by the video on our Facebook page here) thankfully there have been no reports of serious injuries caused by flying debris.

Hitchin resident and renowned author Danny Pearson spoke to Nub News as he reflected on a day of drama that we covered in depth with our live updates here

"I was in town on Friday morning and the scenes before me were like the ones in Lockdown 1.0," good-natured Dany said, adding: "The streets were empty of humans.

"The ducks and swans were happily swimming on the River Hiz and the squirrels were jumping around in the trees without a care.

"That of course all changed after 1pm. What a storm.

"A mixture of rain, wind, fallen branches and shortlived rainbows.

"The power of nature on full show!"