Britain Gets Battered: Gale Force Winds Leave Trees Uprooted And Power Lines Down (PICTURES)

Britain Gets Battered: Gale Force Winds Leave Trees Uprooted And Power Lines Down (PICTURES)
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Following weeks of drought warnings and hosepipe bans, Britain is back to its blustery, windswept best.

Gusts of up to 71mph an hour battered South West England and Wales yesterday leaving trees uprooted, power lines down and much of the country waterlogged.

The Met Office has issued a “code yellow” severe weather warning, urging members of the public to be aware of conditions which have “the potential to cause danger to life or widespread disruption”.

Trees and debris bringing down power lines led to 10,000 homes being left without power in south Wales and the West Midlands on Sunday night, as well as 2,000 homes in the South West.

Hundreds of trees were uprooted during the gales, with some injuries reported.

The sun is making an appearance today, although scattered showers are forecast throughout the day with the chance of a thunderstorm this evening.

Thundery rain will spread up from the south tonight with a risk of localised flooding.

A Met Office spokesman said: "In terms of the persistent heavy rain that we saw over the weekend that's come to an end but we're still expecting more showers this week.

"The south west is likely to see the brunt of those. Other parts of the country is going to see sunshine, in northern areas they are seeing the sun, through the midlands, parts of east anglia and the south east, and a few others. There is a continuing risk of showers across most of the country but they are not going to be the persistent widespread rainfall that we saw over the weekend.

"We're in for an unsettled picture across the next 30 days or so. It's a mixture of rain and sunny weather. We'll get a couple of nice days followed by wet windy days. At the moment a heatwave doesn't look likely. At the moment there's no sign of a long period.

"The forecast isn't towards wall to wall rain. It is a standard UK picture."

Meanwhile much of England and Wales was braced for flooding today as the Environment Agency issued a total of 31 flood warnings and 173 flood alerts on its website today.

Has the weather wreaked havoc where you live? Email your pictures to ukpicturedesk@teamaol.com and we’ll credit you.