Storm Katie hit Rye overnight Sunday March 27 and brought a large tree down, blocking Deadmans Lane. There was visible damage to the first house on the road as well as to a car parked outside. The home owners Paul and Caroline Fincham were not available for comment. Deadmans Lane was totally inaccessible, putting pressure on other vehicular entrances to town, notably South Undercliff.
Rye News informed the Rye Town Clerk who contacted Highways England, who said they would come with heavy equipment, to remove the tree. At that time they could give no estimate of when the lane would be open again. The owner of the land where the tree was may be charged by Highways England for its removal.
We returned the next day, Monday March 28, to see what progress had been made to clear the tree. To our surprise it was a local building company, W Tolletts, which was clearing the tree. They had turned up to start work at 7:30am at the instigation of the home owners. Highways England turned up two hours later when the work was well under way. With the tree removed we could see that three cars had been damaged. It appears that the home owners were in when the tree fell on the roof. No one was injured.
Photo:s Ray Prewer