Hundreds hit by storm power cuts

Wind tore the roof off this house at Nant Peris, Gwynedd

About 1,100 homes lost power across north Wales after heavy rain and winds of up to 74mph swept the region.

Scottish Power said Gwynedd and the Dee Valley were the worst affected areas, although all but 250 homes were reconnected by Thursday evening.

The Met Office issued severe weather warnings for Conwy, Gwynedd, Denbighshire, Flintshire, and Anglesey.

North Wales Fire Service attended calls ranging from fallen trees to damaged roofs and flooded homes.

A Scottish Power spokesman said continuing high winds meant it had been unable to send engineers to deal with the remaining problem areas.

Work would continue until midnight and resume "early" Friday morning.

There were numerous faults after power lines came down or trees fell across them.

Winds of 74mph were recorded at Valley on Anglesey on Thursday morning.

Elsewhere in north Wales, the Asda store in Llandudno, Conwy was damaged when a 4 ft by 4 ft metal housing for an air conditioning unit blew off and hit a telegraph pole.

North Wales Fire Service said houses in Nant Peris Gwynedd, and Rhyl lost their roofs in the strong winds.

Slowly improve

A large tree fell across the A4080 at Llanfairpwllon Anglesey, hitting a car.

In Denbighshire, Green Lane in Corwen was closed due to flooding while there was a warning that the Ruthin to Llanrhaeadr is only passable with care. The Nant-y-Garth Pass in Denbighshire closed near Llysfasi College but has now reopened.

Arriva Trains Wales said a replacement bus service was running between Llandudno and Blaenau Ffestiniog because the track was flooded at Llanrwst.

BBC Wales' meteorologist Derek Brockway said the weather would slowly improve through the rest of the day becoming drier.

He warned of more wind and rain on Friday but it would not be as severe.