Шторм Кэти наломал дров в Британии

Storm Katie has battered large parts of England, leaving flights cancelled, property damaged and thousands of people without power.

Flights bound for Gatwick and Heathrow were diverted to other airports and dozens were cancelled as gusts of up to 106mph hit the south of the country.

More than 100,000 homes were without power at the height of the winds, with thousands still awaiting reconnection.

The Environment Agency has issued 25 flood warnings following heavy rain.

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The agency has also issued about 150 alerts in response to what it said were “rapidly rising” river levels in the wake of the storm.

Travel disruption included the overnight closure of Dartford River Crossing and M48 Severn Bridge – which has now reopened – and delays to several train routes because of trees blown on to tracks.

Passengers on board planes arriving at Gatwick Airport have been describing their “absolutely terrifying” experiences as pilots had to abandon landings at the last minute.

Dan Prance, who was on a flight from Budapest, said his plane was “dropping suddenly and swinging left to right” before the pilot “suddenly aborted the landing”.

He said some passengers “began being ill and sick” as a result, but there was “a full round of applause and people crying” when the plane finally landed in Birmingham.

Arnon Woolfson, whose plane was also diverted to Birmingham, described his flight as “pretty hairy” as the plane was “not just going up and down, it was going sideways” during an attempted landing in Gatwick.

Planes diverted from Gatwick, which had all been due to land after midnight, were also sent to Liverpool, Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands.

A spokeswoman said 26 flights had been cancelled and 23 diverted. Heathrow cancelled 61 flights and diverted another 20.

High winds from the storm left power lines damaged, causing cuts to over 80,000 homes across the south of England, according to Southern Electric Distribution.

The firm said it had restored power to 40,300 homes since Sunday night, while a further 42,000 homes across Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire , Dorset, Surrey, West Sussex, Wiltshire and the Isle of Wight remained without electricity.

Western Power Distribution said more than 4,000 homes were without power across the Midlands, South West and Wales.

About 19,000 of households covered by UK Power Network have been left without electricity.

Winds and heavy rain started on Sunday night, with many people finding storm damage to trees, properties and building sites after they woke on Monday.

Robert Gray, who owns a bed and breakfast near where a crane collapsed in Greenwich, south-east London, said it had been an “apocalyptic storm” with winds which were “just so loud”.

Elsewhere in London, bricks blown from the roof of a Battersea pub were left strewn across the road in the early hours.

General manager Simon Adams said it was “very lucky it was at that time and not later on” because the street was empty and so nobody was injured.

London Fire Brigade said it had dealt with more than 110 incidents caused by the high winds. In Sussex, police say they received about 600 weather-related calls between midnight and 09:30 BST.

Sports events have also been affected. AFC Wimbledon tweeted that their match against Portsmouth had been postponed.

The QE2 Bridge, the southbound crossing over the River Thames at Dartford, remains closed because of the high winds, causing severe congestion in the surrounding area.

The M48 Severn Crossing, which connects England and Wales, was closed earlier but has since reopened, as has the A38 Tamar Bridge in Cornwall.

Cross-Channel and Isle of Wight ferry services are subject to delays and temporary sailing restrictions were put in place at the Port of Dover.

Network Rail has warned that train services are still being disrupted because of obstacles on railway lines.

The strongest winds recorded were on the Isle of Wight, where gusts reached 106mph.

However, other parts of the country experienced very different conditions with snow falling in some parts of the Midlands.

BBC Weather said Storm Katie left the British mainland during late morning, moving over the southern North Sea where rigs and ships were hit by 60mph winds.

Шторм Кэти принес в Англию и Уэльс ливни и сильный порывистый ветер, достигавший скорости 170 км/ч. Повалены сотни деревьев, многие авиарейсы отменены, а крупные мосты закрыты.

Более 20 рейсов, направлявшихся в лондонский Гэтвик, были перенаправлены в другие аэропорты, около 60 рейсов в Хитроу было отменено.

Метеорологи объявили “оранжевый” уровень опасности из-за сильного ветра в Лондоне и на юго-востоке Англии, и “желтый” – на востоке и юго-западе, а также на юге Уэльса.

Более 5 тысяч домов остались без электричества, поступило 23 предупреждения о наводнениях.

Многие мосты на крупных автомагистралях закрыты, отменены спортивные игры, с задержками ходят паромы.

Сильный ливень и ветер начались еще вечером в воскресенье – за ночь были повалены деревья, повреждены дома и строительные площадки.

На юго-востоке Лондона ветер сломал строительный кран, а в южном районе Кройдон строительные леса упали на припаркованные рядом машины.

Дорожные службы призывают водителей быть крайне осторожными и сверяться с прогнозом погоды, особенно при вождении мотоциклов и использовании прицепов.

В понедельник в Британии выходной день – если бы такая непогода случилась в будни, проблемы возникли бы у очень многих.