Mayhem as storm hits

Storm-force winds wrecked homes and caused chaos across the Midlands as trees were sent crashing down.

See also: Photos: Trees tumble in the storms

Emergency services were inundated with calls when gusts of up to 45mph tore through the region, uprooting trees which landed on houses and vehicles. Roads were also blocked by the debris.

West Midlands Fire Service received more than 100 calls while Staffordshire Fire & Rescue was also inundated with weather-related emergencies yesterday.

In Sandwell a 50ft tree smashed into a family home, ripped down telephone lines and tore up the pavement in Manor Road, Smethwick.

Owner Susan Johnston, aged 61, who was in the house with daughter Angela and two grandchildren, told today how her husband Barry had died suddenly just the day before.

In Wolverhampton a huge section of a 40ft ash tree caused thousands of pounds of damage to a garden. The greenhouse of Cliff and Elizabeth Partridge in Lapper Avenue, Ettingshall Park, was smashed and their fence and plants flattened.

In Codsall, motorists had to manoeuvre under a balancing branch that had come down in Mill Lane. Another tree, an 80ft beech, also fell in Mill Lane yesterday on to the house of pensioner Don Poyner.

Trains were delayed after a tree came down around 3pm on the Severn Valley railway line .

Elsewhere, a 13-year-old girl was killed by a falling tree in Huddersfield.