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Storm Eleanor: Travel disruption and homes without power

Thousands of homes lost power and travel was disrupted after Storm Eleanor battered the UK with gusts of up to 100mph (161kph).

The Met Office said the strongest winds had now passed for the UK, where four people were injured by falling trees.

Numerous road closures and public transport delays were caused by trees and debris during the storm.

As the storm swept into France, a skier was killed by a falling tree in the Alps and 15 others injured elsewhere.

In Cornwall, some residents have been advised to leave their homes at high tide because of a collapsed stone harbour wall in Portreath. The council says the advice is a precaution.

The Met Office said that during the storm gusts of more than 70mph were recorded across much of the UK.

The strongest gusts were 100mph recorded at Great Dun Fell in Cumbria at 01:00, 90mph at Orlock Head, Northern Ireland and 89mph on the Isle of Wight.

More than 25,000 homes in Northern Ireland lost power but this has been restored to all but 1,600 properties.

About 400 homes in Wales have had power restored.

Scottish and English provider SSE said it had restored power to 18,000 homes since midnight after outages caused by the storm.

In Worcestershire, a man was injured by a falling tree and another man was treated by paramedics after a tree fell on a car in Hensol, Vale of Glamorgan.

In Hinton Admiral, Hampshire, two people were freed from a car, which had been struck by a tree during the heavy winds, at about 03:00.

Both men were taken to hospital, since then the driver has been arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs while at the wheel.

A body was recovered on the coast of East Sussex at about 08:00, after the remains were spotted in the water. It was not known whether the person was swept into the water by the weather conditions.

As the storm made landfall on mainland Europe, flights to the UK were affected.

Dutch carrier KLM cancelled a number of flights between Amsterdam Schiphol airport and London Heathrow.

Other flights between the Netherlands and Manchester, London City, Leeds Bradford and Southampton airports were delayed.

Overturned vehicles led to closures on the A1M, M6 and M5, where a recovery operation was under way to clear up the contents of a lorry left spilled on the road.

Several major bridges were closed due to high winds.

In Buckinghamshire, "flying trampolines" ended up on lines near Aylesbury.

Storm Eleanor: 'Flying trampolines' land on Aylesbury train tracks

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Two trampolines were blown on to tracks near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire

Two "flying trampolines" were blown on to train tracks during high winds caused by Storm Eleanor.

Network Rail said a train had to stop in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire on Tuesday night.

The trampolines were moved to the side of the track and taken away by staff on Wednesday morning.

A Network Rail spokesman said the incident was "an obvious safety hazard" and appealed to people to secure garden items.

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A train had to stop while the debris was cleared

Mark Killick, chief operating officer for Network Rail's London North Western route, said: "It is incredible to think that a trampoline could fly through the air on to the railway, but here we have not one but two at the same location."

Network Rail has asked residents to tether items such as trampolines, gazebos and marquees to make sure they stay put in high winds.

Deadly Storm Eleanor batters Europe

Winter storm Eleanor has swept into most of northern Europe, including France and Germany after battering the UK, cutting power to tens of thousands of homes and affecting transport.

A skier died in the French Alps and 15 others were injured elsewhere in the country, four of them seriously.

A train was blown off its tracks in Switzerland, leaving several people with minor injuries. One person was hit by a falling tree in the Netherlands.

Storm Eleanor is the UK's fifth named storm of the season.

In northern France, the storm cut power to more than 200,000 households and Eleanor is set to move to other regions throughout the day, including Corsica.

Air travel was also disrupted in the capital, Paris, and in the east of the country.

In Paris, the Eiffel Tower was closed because of the strong winds. The city's parks have also been closed until the storm dies down because of worries over falling tree branches.

A skier was killed by a falling tree in Morillon, in the Haute-Savoie region of eastern France.

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Image caption A train overturned near Lenk in central Switzerland, lightly injuring several people
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What is it with trampolines?   As soon as there is a storm they are attracted to the railway like magnets!

Mark Killick, chief operating officer for Network Rail's London North Western route, said: "It is incredible to think that a trampoline could fly through the air on to the railway, but here we have not one but two at the same location.

"This is an ongoing problem for us, which poses an obvious safety hazard and inconvenience to passengers.

"We would appeal to people living by the railway to ensure items such as trampolines, gazebos, marquees and tents are tethered, so they don't end up on the railway during high winds."

It is not the first time Network Rail has been forced to issue a plea about trampolines.

During Storm Doris in February last year, it reported that it had to remove a number of items from the railway, including trampolines, garden sheds and a child's pop-up tent.

A trampoline hit and smashed the windscreen of a train

Today's 12:03 London Pad to Penzance hit a tree in the Hungerford area.  That's the second power car within the space of 4 or 5 days that's been severely damaged by hitting a tree.

...and reports elsewhere that it was the same driver as involved in the Froxfield bridge collapse AND the Newbury signal collapse.  3 obstruction incidents on the B&H... :o

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So, none of this hubris about turbines "taming the wind" - it can bite back!