A 4x4 makes waves at Les Grands Moulins, Castel, yesterday afternoon. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0866616)

THE west coast was battered by gale-force winds and a high tide early this morning.

The sea came over the wall in many areas and debris was strewn across the road.

Some motorists chose to turn back off the coast road due to the volume of water from the predicted 9.3-metre tide that was topping the sea wall driven by a Force 8 gale.

The Fire and Rescue Service was called out at 12.30am to secure a skylight that had been blown from the roof of a property in Rue des Landes, Castel.

Several roads were flooded in yesterday’s downpour.

Of yesterday’s 15.7mm rainfall, a total of 7.5mm fell between noon and late afternoon including 2.2mm in two minutes in a deluge at about 2pm.

States Works general manager Nigel Dorey said that about 20 reports of flooding had been phoned in.

‘Most of the streams struggled to cope with such a huge deluge in one go,’ he said. ‘In most cases, by the time we got there the drains had taken the water but a lot of debris was left on roads, particularly mud from recently ploughed fields.’

He said fallen leaves caused some of the problems by blocking gullies.

Two of the worst-hit areas were Braye Road and Route des Coutanchez where a car reportedly broke down in the middle of a flood.