Winds hamper homes power repairs

This tree came down on a car at Chirk near Wrexham

Hundreds of homes will be without power for a second night because of gale force winds across Wales.

Scottish Power said it had boosted the number of its engineers from 300 to 500 and had restored electricity to 11,000 homes in mid and north Wales.

The firm said access to lines - brought down in the gales - was being hampered by "atrocious" conditions.

Forecasters said the winds, reduced compared to Thursday, would pick up again overnight.

Emergency services across Wales have been clearing up after the strong winds which have battered the country.

Fire and rescue services have reported scores of calls for help with flooded properties, fallen trees and vehicles caught in water.

On Thursday a driver died just after leaving Wales on the A55 near Chester when a lorry was blown onto a car.

A family whose power had been cut off because of the storms had a lucky escape when the candles they used instead set fire to their north Wales home.

Firefighters from Conwy and Llandudno were called to a fire in the bathroom of the property in Eglwysbach on Friday morning.

Pumping station

Scottish Power had halved to 15,000 the number of customers whose electricity had been cut off and said it would bring in engineers from Scotland and Northern Ireland to help.

Fallen trees have hampered access to downed power lines

The firm said the electricity network had been extensively damaged and the worst hit areas were Ceredigion, northern Powys, Gwynedd and the Conwy Valley.

A spokeswoman said: "We are continuing into tonight to work on repairing the network and have restored power to a further 4,000 customers, 3,000 in Wales and 1,000 in Cheshire.

"We will continue to restore more customers throughout the evening. However there will be some customers who will remain without power overnight.

"We will be working into tonight and through tomorrow to get all our customers back on supply."

The company said anyone still experiencing problems once their power was restored should contact 0845 272 2424.

Transport

Llanrumney High School in Cardiff was closed for a second day because of flooding in the car park and school grounds after Welsh Water's Ball Lane sewerage pumping station flooded.

Welsh Water said the waste water network in the area was still operating as normal.

Two schools in Powys - Whitton Primary near Knighton and Berriew Primary - were closed on Friday, as were two in Flintshire - Ysgol y Fron Junior in Holywell and Lixwm Primary.

By Friday afternoon, Environment Agency Wales said the number of flood warnings had fallen to four, two each in the Dee Valley and the Wye along the English border.

Transport services were returning to normal although Irish Ferries said their services from Holyhead were cancelled because of the bad weather

In north Wales, northbound trains between Shotton and Bidston on Merseyside are being replaced by buses after a fuse box was blown over in the high winds.

Swansea Coastguard advised people to avoid promenades and coastal paths while the strong winds continued

On Arriva Trains Wales' route between Llandudno Junction and Blaenau Ffestiniog, the line was closed because of flooding.

On Thursday, gale force winds reaching 80mph in some places caused widespread disruption. Most flights from Cardiff International Airport and rail services in and out of Wales were disrupted.

BBC meteorologist Derek Brockway warned that the weather looked like turning colder over the weekend.