Nine dead as UK struck by storms
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Nine dead as UK struck by storms*
Nine people have died, travel has been severely disrupted and thousands
of homes have been left without power as gales and heavy downpours hit
the UK.
A two-year-old boy died when a wall fell on him in Kentish Town, London.
Two other people died in Cheshire, two in Greater Manchester, one in
North Yorkshire, one in Berkshire, one in Shropshire and one in Humberside.
Gusts of up to 99mph have seen flights cancelled, rail speed
restrictions enforced and sections of motorway shut.
The managing director of Birmingham Airport, Richard Heard, 49, died
after a branch fell on his car between Bridgnorth and Broseley,
Shropshire, and a male passenger in a Ford Fiesta was killed when a tree
fell on the car in Streatley, Berkshire.
A lorry driver died when his vehicle left the road and overturned in
high winds on the A629 Skipton western bypass, in North Yorkshire.
A man was killed when a lorry was blown onto a car on the A55 on the
outskirts of Chester, Cheshire.
In Stockport, Greater Manchester, a woman in her 60s was crushed to
death when a wall toppled onto her in high winds.
A man also died after being blown into a metal shutter at an industrial
estate in the Strangeways area of Manchester.
And Cheshire Constabulary said a 60-year-old man was pronounced dead at
Leighton Hospital, Crewe, after he was struck by a tree.
He had been working at a site in Byley, Middlewich, when the accident
took place.
Meanwhile, an elderly man died as a result of injuries sustained when a
shed collapsed on him in Humberside, despite the efforts of firefighters
from Crowle and Scunthorpe.
While England experienced high winds, Scotland saw its first major
snowfalls of 2007, bringing road and rail disruption.
Thousands of homes across the UK were left without power when the storms
were at their peak.
Earlier in the day, some 100,000 people were affected by power cuts in
Godalming, Surrey, while tens of thousands were left without electricity
across the north east of England, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire.
People in parts of Lancashire and the south Lake District also lost
power, as did thousands in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire,
Cheshire and Wales.
Other weather-related problems across the country include:
# Lord's Cricket Ground in London was left strewn with debris after
winds damaged its roof
# In Kent, Dover port closed for a period
# Strong winds brought down part of a roof onto a busy shopping street
in Hereford city centre
Storms at Blackpool
Heavy rain and gusts have swept across much of the UK
# Twenty-six mariners were rescued from a damaged British container ship
in the English Channel, 50 miles (80km) off the Lizard in Cornwall
# There were 192 flights cancelled at Heathrow, 39 cancellations across
Scotland, five at Southampton and two at Stansted. Cardiff also saw
flights cancelled. More than 80 flights at Manchester were cancelled.
Flights from Liverpool John Lennon Airport were suspended for a time.
On the roads, the Highways Agency said both the M48 Severn Bridge and
the Dartford crossing were closed because of high winds.
The M25 junctions 29 to 30 were closed in both directions as were the M1
junctions 30 to 31, M11 junctions 6 to 10 and M18 junctions 4 to 7.
Network Rail said 50mph speed restrictions were in place across the
whole of England and Wales in an attempt to reduce damage to overhead
power cables.
London Bridge station closed for the day after glass panels fell onto
the concourse.
Virgin Trains cancelled all services on its West Coast route between
London and Scotland, and First Great Western was forced to run a shuttle
service between Paddington and Reading.
Scotland has seen its first major snowfalls of the year
Forecasters said wind speeds reached 99mph at the Needles, Isle of
Wight, 84mph in Crosby - near Liverpool - and 82mph in Rhyl, Wales.
Meanwhile, there were gusts of up to 78mph at Heathrow.
BBC weather forecaster Daniel Corbett said the winds had now moved into
the North Sea and "we can see the light at the end of the tunnel" as far
as the bad weather is concerned.
However, he warned that cold weather in Scotland and north-east England
could create icy stretches of road in those areas, making driving
hazardous on Friday morning.
Friday is expected to be calmer but the country could be facing a cold
snap next week.
Despite an unusually mild start to January, forecasters have warned that
temperatures are likely to plummet beyond the weekend.