Sudden vicious storm sweeps Britain, toppling trees, disrupting traffic, closing airports and bridges and cutting power to 25,000
A brief but vicious storm has left two people dead and more than a dozen people injured after gales reached 106mph as they swept across the UK.
The tempestuous end to the mildest Christmas and new year holiday for 14 years saw ferries halted at Dover, airports closed and more than 25,000 people left without power.
Trees toppled on to the roads in Tunbridge Wells, where a van driver in his 50s was killed. A spokesman for Kent police said: "His van is believed to have been stationary at the time of the impact. A male passenger in the vehicle is not believed to have been injured."
A crewman injured on board a tanker in the Channel has died.
Torrential rain downpours saw parts of Cornwall, Devon and Wales come close to flash-flooding with 5mm (0.2in) to 6mm (0.24in) of rain in an hour. But defences held although standing water on roads added to problems caused by tree falls and high winds.
Traffic disruption was widespread with trees blocking commuter routes in Greater Manchester and outer London while lorries blown over by severe gusts caused further difficulties. Two overturned on the north-south M6 and trans-Pennine A66 in Cumbria, close to Great Dun Fell, where at an altitude of 848m (2,782ft) the day's fiercest gust of 106mph was recorded.
Buses replaced trains in many areas, including all east coast services in Scotland. Other services between London and the north suffered heavy disruption, as well as some services in Cornwall. The Dartford Crossing slowed to a crawl although conditions generally were less drastic on the eastern side of the UK.
Emergency services coped rapidly with hazards, closing bridges over the Foyle in Northern Ireland and the Forth, Tay and Clyde in Scotland as well as barring high-sided lorries from the Tamar bridge into Cornwall.
Environment Agency officers rescued a woman in her 40s who tried to drive across a ford on the swollen river Chew in Somerset and was swept away. Rescuers fitted the non-swimmer with a lifejacket before pulling her to safety and lashing the car with ropes to prevent it joining debris swirling downstream.
More than 40 flood alerts were issued but the eye of the storm was highly concentrated and fast moving, with almost all the severe weather moving out into the North Sea by early afternoon. A second, weaker band of heavy rain driven by strong winds is forecast for Wednesday, with turbulence continuing into Thursday before dying away.
At Dover all sailings for the continent were cancelled. The Larne-Cairnryan link between Northern Ireland and Scotland was also suspended along with most services across the Solent to the Isle of Wight. Several sailors were rescued from a yacht off the coast of Kent and from a dinghy in Portsmouth harbour.
The Meteorological Office said the onslaught was not untypical of weather in December or January but appeared exceptional after the prolonged mild spell.
Gemma Plumb, a forecaster with Meteogroup, said: "Everywhere has seen strong winds today. We've seen plenty of gusts of up to 97mph across central and southern parts of Scotland, 65 to 75mph across northern parts of England, and 60 to 70mph across Wales and the south coast of England."
Close behind the record Pennine wind speed were the 105mph recorded at Malin Head in Donegal, Ireland, and 102mph in Edinburgh.
The wind caused a horse racing meeting in Ayr to be called off, while Epsom racecourse was evacuated after part of the grandstand flew off.
Snow was absent, however, except in mountainous areas of the Scottish Highlands where up to 20cms (8ins) was expected to fall overnight.
The Association of British Insurers promised that traditional winter bills for weather damage would be met promptly but urged victims to keep receipts for any temporary repairs they had been forced to make.