Winds of more than 80mph brought down trees, damaged houses and brought chaos for travellers today as a severe storm battered Britain.
In the West Midlands and Staffordshire, several trees came down as gusts reached 50mph. One tree blocked a road outside Wodensborough Community Technology College in Wednesbury, and a wall was blown into the street on Main Road in Milford, Stafford.
Birmingham Airport welcomed more than 1,000 extra passengers because of aircraft diversions. Planes from Heathrow and Manchester were redirected to Birmingham and included jumbo jets from Hong Kong and Johannesburg.
Travellers faced delays and thousands of people in the West Country and South Wales woke to find they were without electricity after falling trees crashed through power lines.
A tanker with 13 crew on board was in trouble off the Isle of Wight as the storms whipped up the waters around the coasts.
The Ports of Dover and Calais were both closed today as gusts in the English Channel reached gale force nine.
The highest recorded wind speed was 82mph at Berry Head in Brixham, south Devon.
* More reports and pictures in tonight’s Express & Star.
7 Comments
All in all, the great hyped storm was something of a disappointment. I blame Gordon Brown and New Labour for the lack of decent bad winters. A general election would sort this out.
Totally agree with Rabsta, once again the public was promised something just before the budget which failed to manifest itself .
Why should we accept paying more taxes for a poorer service ? what was the point in building my windfarm and a butt to recycle my water if the government can’t be bothered to supply me with a decent supply of wind and rain ?
JUST TO LET ALL KNOW THAT THE WINDS ARE AWFUL IM LIVING AND WORKING AT CAMBER SANDS EAST SUSSEX ON A
CARAVAN PARK AND IT IS QUITE DESTRUCTIVE I WOULD BE IN WOLVES ANYDAY IF I COULD BELIEVE ME……..
Hmmm, winds destroy caravan park? It’s not all bad news then….
Hope the beach is intact at Camber Gazza…. Best beach for miles around…. spoiled by the caravan site though… an ugly blot on the horizon nearly as off-putting as the unwelcome signs and prohibitive parking charges of Rother Council.
What ho, Doc What, nice of you to breeze in!
It’s bostin in Bahrain.