High winds cut power to thousands

Thousands of homes in the West Midlands had their electricity cut off when high winds brought down power lines.

Engineers from electricity firm Central Networks were dealing with nearly 100 separate incidents in the region.

Gusts of 50mph (80km/h) brought down electricity poles and trees and 12,000 homes were cut off. Emergency services also dealt with hundreds of calls.

Engineers were working to reconnect the last 2,300 homes without power on Sunday night.

They are making progress all the time Central Networks spokeswoman

A spokeswoman for Central Networks, which provides electricity in the region, said: "We can't say when they will be reconnected.

"They are making progress all the time and they will get people back as quickly as they can."

She said 37 overhead power lines had come down in the region on Saturday night/Sunday morning with many more smaller incidents.

Repair work was initially hampered as it was too dangerous for engineers to climb up to overhead lines.

A spokesman for the Met Office said some gusts of winds had reached 50mph (80km/h) in the region.

"It was certainly a very wild night," he said, adding it "was not going to be a nice day" with rain and winds of up to 45mph (72km/h) in the afternoon.