News UK news Weather Storm-force winds bring flooding, travel disruption and power cuts to UK Winds gusting up to 99mph bring chaotic start to working week as weather system sweeps in from Atlantic across southern Britain • Follow the latest developments on our live blog • Share your videos and photos on GuardianWitness Share 186 inShare0 Email Andrew Culf theguardian.com, Monday 28 October 2013 09.35 GMT Jump to comments (433) Car crushed by fallen tree in London High winds bring down a tree on top of a car in north London
Storm-force winds gusting up to 99mph are battering southern parts of the UK, bringing widespread travel disruption, flooding and power cuts.
The intense storm, which swept in overnight, was causing a chaotic start to the working week with roads impassable because of fallen trees and surface water, and major bridges closed because of the high winds.
UK Power Networks said 140,000 homes were without power in southern counties, while Western Power Distribution said 6,000 homes were affected in the south-west.
Most rail companies in the south of England suspended early morning services, with many trains not expected to run until after 9am, when Network Rail staff have been able to check the tracks were safe.
Network Rail said more than 100 trees had fallen on the tracks – it had cleared more than 40 blockages and was expecting to deal with more. There was also a landslip in the New Forest and a train was disabled after hitting a tree at Ivybridge, in Devon, although no one was injured.
Around 130 fights were cancelled at Heathrow airport and the port of Dover was closed at 6.30am.
The Environment Agency has issued 17 flood warnings, 15 in the south-west, and 141 flood alerts for the rest of England and Wales.
A teenage boy is feared dead after being swept out to sea in Newhaven, East Sussex on Sunday afternoon. The search for him was expected to resume on Monday morning.
The Met Office said the wind reached more than 99mph on the Isle of Wight at 5am. The storm, named St Jude after the feast day of the patron saint of lost causes, hit the south-west late on Sunday night before tracking north-east across England and southern Wales in the early morning.
Chris Burton, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: “The storm is currently over the south Midlands, but it is moving in a large swathe across the country.
“The strongest winds are around Dorset, Somerset and the Hampshire areas, and they are going to spread north and east in the next few hours.
“The highest winds have hit 99mph in exposed areas on the Isle of Wight.
“Elsewhere it has reached 80mph in Portland in Dorset and 75mph at Yeovilton in Somerset, but gusts are widely reaching 50mph.
“Over the next few hours we will be expecting gusts of 60mph in central, south-eastern areas and East Anglia, with the potential of winds reaching 80mph, possibly higher, on the south coast.
“But by mid-morning it should have eased off quite quickly and moved over the North Sea, and winds will die down by about 10am.”
On the roads, both Severn bridges, the Queen Elizabeth II bridge on the M25 and the A249 Sheppey Crossing in Kent are closed.
The M11 was closed southbound near Harlow, in Essex, by an overturned lorry and the Blackwall tunnel under the river Thames in London was closed because of fallen scaffolding.
There are also widespread reports of local roads in Cornwall, Dorset, Hampshire and Sussex blocked or closed as a result of fallen trees and flash flooding.
A police car was damaged by a falling tree on the B2104 in Sussex, officers said, and a vehicle hit a fallen tree in Langney Rise, Eastbourne. The driver was uninjured, police said.
By 6.30am there were reports of 125 trees down across Sussex, while Kent police said 70 trees had come down in the county. Pollce in Hampshire warned motorists not to travel unless necessary. Whitehall was closed in central London by a collapsed crane.
Train companies in the south were running either amended services or no service at all before 9am. Southeastern, South West Trains, Southern and Greater Anglia were all telling commuters to check before trying to travel and warning there would be amended timetables and significant disruption.
There were no trains between Peterborough and London King’s Cross on the East Coast mainline and delays to service heading into Euston and Paddington.
London Overground trains were not due to begin until 9am, and Eurostar said nothing would run until 7am at the earliest.
More than 40 railway line blockages caused by falling trees have been cleared, but more are expected to be found, Network Rail’s managing director of operations, Robin Gisby, has said.
Several hundred Network Rail (NR) staff worked through the night to deal with disruption caused by the severe weather.
Special trains have been used to clear tracks, Gisby said: “In four cases the train being sent through to inspect the line has hit a fallen tree and we have one train in Devon which is currently disabled following a collision with a fallen tree. We are also dealing with a landslip in the New Forest area.”
Gisby added: “As the storm passes from west to east, we will be carrying out safety assessments as quickly as possible to clear routes and get trains running safely.
“We now expect to start services into Waterloo before 9am. Routes from Sussex, Kent and Anglia will follow. Services elsewhere into London are running but at reduced capacity and speed.”
Transport for London (TfL) said there was disruption to six underground lines due to debris on the tracks. The Bakerloo, Central, Jubilee, Metropolitan, Northern and Piccadilly lines were all partially closed while workers removed fallen trees and other obstructions.
About 130 flights have been cancelled at Heathrow and severe disruption was reported at London City, Stansted and Gatwick airports. Gatwick Express and Stansted Express rail services were not running.
Ferry journeys were also being disrupted, with P&O Condor, DFDS Seaways and Hovertravel all reporting cancellations. Dover was closed when winds gusted up to 65 knots.
The coastguard will decide on its next course of action in the search for a 14-year-old boy who disappeared in rough conditions while playing in the sea at Newhaven on Sunday.
Rescue services including a helicopter and a lifeboat searched for the missing boy, but the coastguard stood down its search on Sunday evening in “atrocious” conditions.
Sussex police again warned people not to play on the seafront. Superintendent Grenville Wilson said: “At 3.30am, I was watching people on CCTV on Brighton Beach dancing around at the waves’ edge, occasionally being overtaken by the advancing water. One slip and they could have found themselves in real danger, along with the people who would try to rescue them.
“We witnessed the tragic power of the sea at Newhaven yesterday and our thoughts are with the family and friends of the young lad who is sadly still missing. I don’t want to see that repeated.”
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