UK struck by storms

[Timoweb]

Seven dead as UK struck by storms.
Seven people including a two-year-old boy have died and travel has been severely disrupted as gales and heavy downpours hit parts of the UK. Four people died on the roads in North Yorkshire, Berkshire, Shropshire and Cheshire and two were killed in Greater Manchester.
The boy died after a wall collapsed on him in Kentish Town, north London.
Gusts of up to 70mph mean flights have been cancelled, rail speed restrictions enforced and sections of motorway shut.

The managing director of Birmingham Airport, Richard Heard, 49, died after a branch fell on his car on the B4373 Bridgnorth to Broseley road, Shropshire.
A male passenger in a Ford Fiesta was killed when a tree fell on the car in Streatley, Berkshire.
And a lorry driver died when his vehicle left the road and overturned in high winds on the A629 Skipton western bypass in North Yorkshire.
A man was killed after a lorry was blown onto his car on the A55 on the outskirts of Chester.
A man died after being blown into a metal shutter at an industrial estate in the Strangeways area of Manchester.
While England experienced high winds, Scotland has seen its first major snowfalls of 2007.
The weather has been causing problems across the country, including:

More than 60,000 homes in Lancashire and the south Lake District were without power after lines were damages

More than 25,000 homes lost electricity in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire

Scottish Power said around 30,000 homes were without electricity in Cheshire and mid and north Wales due to the adverse weather

Thousands of homes have been left without power in an area from Oxford to Poole and Chichester, the North East and across Central's Midlands' network

Lord's Cricket Ground in London was left strewn with debris after winds damaged its roof
In Kent, Dover port has reopened, and the M25 Dartford river crossing and the Sheppey Crossing were shut

There was snow and ice in County Durham, where part of the A68 at Tow Law was closed for a short time after lorries and cars skidded into ditches

Strong winds have brought down part of a roof onto a busy shopping street in Hereford city centre

Twenty-six mariners have been rescued from a damaged British container ship in the English Channel 50 miles (80km) off the Lizard in Cornwall

The winds saw restrictions brought in at Heathrow airport, with flights scrapped by both British Airways and bmi. There were also cancellations at Manchester and Cardiff airports because of the weather. Flights from Liverpool John Lennon Airport were suspended for a time.
On the roads, blown over lorries closed the M1 between junctions 29 and 30 in South Yorkshire.
Elsewhere, the M18 has been closed between junctions 4 and 7 northbound and junctions 6 and 7 southbound.
Train operators One and GNER are operating a revised and reduced timetable on the East Coast Mainline.