Fierce gales batter Shropshire

Wind speeds in Shropshire reached between 50 and 60mph last night, and council engineers were called out to deal with 17 roads blocked by blown down trees or branches.

A large tree blew down about 1.20pm outside Welshampton Primary School, near Ellesmere, yesterday, causing part of the A495 to be blocked.

People in the village used chainsaws to help remove the tree.

In Telford, the gales left a large satellite dish swinging just feet from a public footpath after it blew off a house in Juniper Drive, Trench, at about 10.50pm.

And 600 homes were left without power in the Oswestry and Whitchurch areas when overhead power lines were damaged. The whole of Llangollen was plunged into darkness for more than an hour at 7.30pm.

A further 14 homes in Dudleston Heath, near Ellesmere, were without power this morning after an overhead power line in Chapel Lane came down in the storm.

Electricity cables were also downed on the A4388 at Forden, near Montgomery, at 8.50pm and on the A458 near Llanfair Caereinion at 1.10pm and a tree was brought down on the A470 at Cumbach, near Builth Wells, at 7.30pm.

• Nationally, a woman died after being impaled on the branch of a tree blown down on to her car. The worst-hit areas of the country were north-west England, the Humber and also Yorkshire where planes had to be diverted from Leeds-Bradford airport. The woman died shortly after the tragedy in Wakefield.