Rail, Roads and Homes Battered By Latest Bout of Wild Weather

The Atlantic storms turned their attention yesterday to parts of Britain spared the initial assault earlier in the week, causing travel chaos in Northern Ireland, north Wales and the north-west of England.

Swaths of Cheshire were effectively cut off by road closures and overturned lorries, coupled with wholesale cancellation of rail services after wind gusts reached 85mph. Traffic was gridlocked in Warrington and surrounding areas when all eight lanes of the M6 Thelwall viaduct were closed by three overturned lorries and a score of diversions were blocked by uprooted trees and collapsed lampposts. Traffic stretched back for more than five miles in both directions until vehicles were escorted off the motorway by police.

The Runcorn Silver Jubilee bridge was also closed after police reported lorries swaying dangerously close to overturning and being blown across the carriageways.

A woman was seriously hurt in south Manchester when a lamppost was blown on to her Mini Cooper and two houses in Liverpool collapsed after exceptionally powerful gusts penetrated beneath roofs and blew them off.

Heavy but brief rain led to one severe flood warning from the Environment Agency in the Chichester area of Sussex and nine flood watches, mostly in the north-west. Rescue and salvage work continues in areas devastated by Monday's combination of gales and high tides along the Channel coast, where sea defenses from Cornwall to Selsey in West Sussex were briefly overwhelmed.

Part of central Liverpool was evacuated after a huge window from the recently-completed 40-story West Tower blew out and crashed on to a car park.

Blackpool's seafront was raked by 80mph winds and streets in central Manchester were turned into wind tunnels as gusts were funneled between high buildings.

Trees toppled throughout the north-west, including several which fell across the rail track between Chester and Liverpool, ending services for the day.

Trains between Manchester and London were also canceled but the Mersey ferries and flights from Manchester and Liverpool were unaffected by the weather.

Rail services along the Cumbria coastal line were canceled after high tides pushed by wind undermined the rail track and nearby road at Silloth, pictured.

Trouble also persisted in the south, which a tree blocking some rail services in Hampshire. Passengers on the 10.15am Southampton to Edinburgh service had a narrow escape when their train braked from 90mph and collided with a tree so gently that only the headlamp and wipers on the cab windows were damaged.

One passenger, Mike Pearson, said: "We rounded a corner and suddenly there was a bang. The driver brought the train to a halt very well. It could have been much worse."

Cars were buried by rubble in Cleveleys, near Blackpool, after high winds brought down the gable end of a shop.

More than 750 homes in Northern Ireland were left without power after the storm tore through and the Humber bridge between Yorkshire and Lincolnshire was closed to high-sided vehicles with a 30mph speed limit for other traffic.

Ferry services between Dover and Calais were delayed by up to two hours because of high seas and a coach driver traveling to pick up passengers in Uckfield, East Sussex, had a narrow escape when a tree fell on the rear of the vehicle.

The Meteorological Office said that low pressure was likely to bring overnight snow to parts of northern England and Scotland, while the main storms are expected to move across the north-east and east Anglia today.

Repair work in the south has gone well, according to the Energy Networks Association, which said that only a few hundred of 30,000 homes which suffered power cuts on Monday were still without supply last night.

Tom Tobler of Meteo Group forecasters said: "It will be much less windy tomorrow. There will be a fair amount of rain around, some of it heavy in southern England. Further north there will be showers, but nothing too drastic."