UK storms wash away railway line and leave thousands without power

 

Part of the sea wall in Dawlish was washed away, as John Ayres reports

                

South-west England and south Wales are being hit by a powerful storm, washing away part of a railway line and leaving thousands of homes without electricity.

Forecasters have warned the storm is heading east, with rain, thunder and hail expected, along with winds of up to 50mph in London.

A section of the sea wall in Dawlish, Devon, collapsed and left the main railway line suspended in mid-air.

David Cameron has announced an extra £100m for flood works.

At Prime Minister's Questions he pledged £75m for repairs over the next year, £10m for urgent work in Somerset - where several rivers have flooded - and £15m for maintenance.

He said: "Whatever is required, whether it is dredging work on the rivers Tone and Parrett, whether it is support for our emergency services, whether it is fresh money for flood defences, whether it's action across the board, this government will help those families and get this issue sorted."

Dawlish resident Robert Parker said the storm was "like the end of the world".

He said: "It was like an earthquake. I've never experienced anything like it. I've been in some terrible storms in the North Sea, but last night was just a force of nature."

Mr Cameron is to chair a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee to discuss the floods following widespread criticism of Environment Secretary Owen Paterson's handling of the crisis.

Rail tracks at Dawlish appeared to run into the sea

The sea wall supporting the track had collapsed

Waves continued to lash the seafront

Earlier, First Great Western said all lines between Exeter St Davids and Penzance were closed because of the collapsed track at Dawlish and adverse weather conditions. It advised against travel for the rest of the day.

Patrick Hallgate from Network Rail, who is assessing the damage at Dawlish, said it could take between four and six weeks to fix the line, which is the main rail link between Devon and Cornwall.

"This is probably the biggest structural engineering feat we've faced in the South West for at least the last decade," he said.

First Great Western said some branch lines in Devon and Cornwall were starting to operate.

The Environment Agency has nine severe flood warnings in place, meaning "danger to life", covering much of the south coast from Cornwall to Dorset and two areas of Somerset.

A significant section of the West Pier in Brighton collapsed overnight

The Met Office said gusts of up to 70mph and 20mm of rain had spread from the South West to south-west Wales and eastern Northern Ireland overnight.

Western Power Distribution said about 44,000 customers had been affected by power cuts since Tuesday afternoon and 5,000 homes in south-west England remained without power.

Overnight 'pasting'

Teams of engineers worked through the night to fix the faults, and the company said it would also switch circuits to work around individual problems.

Robert Parker, from Dawlish, was evacuated from his home overnight

Phil Davies, network service manager for the company, said they had had "quite a pasting in the South West overnight".

"We are importing some staff from south Wales and the Midlands to help and we are confident we can get everybody back [with power] today."

In other developments:

• Twenty people were evacuated from Kingsand in Cornwall because their homes were being damaged by stones washed ashore and coming through their windows
• Devon and Cornwall police received 300 emergency calls overnight. About 100 trees were reported blown over
• In Brighton, a significant section of the West Pier skeleton collapsed amid high winds and stormy seas
• Homes were evacuated on the seafront in Torcross, Devon after waves smashed the front of four buildings
• Portsmouth Historic Dockyard was closed because high winds were causing roof tiles to blow around
• Southeastern said Network Rail had put a 40mph speed restriction in place across parts of its network which will mean longer journeys on some services
• South West Trains said a speed restriction of 50mph would be imposed on some routes between 10:00 and 19:00 GMT on Wednesday
• Winds of up to 92mph (148km/h) were reported in the Isles of Scilly
• In Devon the storms have caused "severe damage" to rail lines
• Looe quay, in Cornwall, is awash with sea water.

In Wales, a number of main roads were closed by fallen trees or flooding.

Firefighters have also been called out to deal with dangerous structures. There have been two incidents in the Tenby area of Pembrokeshire with roofing being blown off buildings.

 

The Met Office has an amber severe weather warning - meaning "be prepared" - for wind for southern England between 08:00 and 15:00 GMT on Wednesday, as well as warnings for wind and rain for other parts of the UK.

The Environment Agency's severe flood warnings cover South Cornwall, South Devon from Start Point to Dawlish Warren, South Devon from Exmouth to Lyme Regis, Lyme Regis harbour, West Bay in Dorset, Weymouth seafront, Chiswell on the Isle of Portland, and two areas of Somerset - the A361 East Lyng to Burrowbridge, and Salt Moor and North Moor.

It also has about 70 flood warnings and more than 200 flood alerts in England and Wales.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has one flood warning for Kirkcaldy in Fife, and several flood alerts.

BBC weather presenter Matt Taylor said there would be more stormy weather on Wednesday.

BBC Weather's Chris Fawkes: "As long as the jetstream continues to be in a locked position, we will continue to see storm after storm"

"There will be another bout of potentially damaging winds into the morning rush-hour," he said.

On Tuesday, the Prince of Wales met residents in the flood-hit Somerset Levels where thousands of hectares of land remain under water and whole villages have been cut off for weeks.

Somerset residents have expressed anger at the pace at which the Environment Agency and the government have responded.

Many said there has been a slow response from the authorities to the flooding, which has affected many parts of the Levels since December.

In Cornwall, the local authority estimated storms had caused more than £4m of damage across the county in the past month.

The Met Office said another band of rain was expected to arrive from the south on Thursday.