Storm St Jude: Your stories

Matt Myers took this photo of a car crushed near Ascot railway station

Much of southern England is recovering from a severe storm in which there were gusts of up to 99mph (159km/h).

A teenager in Kent and a man in Watford were killed by falling trees.

More than a quarter of a million homes were left without power, while trains and flights were cancelled or delayed.

Some of those affected by the storm have been describing their experiences.

Peter Troy, Blackheath, south-east London

Peter Troy's house was damaged by a falling oak branch

The huge branch of an oak tree just came down in our back garden, hitting the house.

The lounge window is broken and the door to the garden is damaged.

We can't assess what else might be damaged as we are now unable to get out of the house and access the garden given the size of the tree branch blocking the side.

We have a lot of oak trees at the side of the house and have always been frightened that one would come down.

This one hit us around 6.30am.

We are OK, although it gave my daughter a fright as it came down on the same side as her bedroom and probably hit against her wall.

We will have to ask the council to remove it as there is no way we can shift it.

Ironically, we had the windows replaced the week before last and they were meant to come today to finish the job. I can't see that happening now.

Neil Blackwell, Rye, East Sussex

I live in a semi-rural location and we had no power at all this morning.

No heat, no lights, no kettle - we could see the neighbours across the road had the same issue as they were using candles.

I woke up at 4.45am due to all the noise of the storm and when I left home at 7.30am there was still no power.

The trouble is rural locations are usually left until last when it comes to power outages.

The larger population areas get sorted first.

At the bottom of the garden we have open views and we've built a screen because sometimes it can be a bit windy when we're sitting out there.

The screen has 8mm-thick glass and is set into heavy patio stones, but the wind has lifted them up and smashed the thick glass.

I usually have a 1hr 15min commute, but today it took two hours as every road I drove down, including the A21, was blocked by trees.

I kept having to find different roads.

I'm very much hoping the power will be back on when I get home this evening.

Sam Wooldridge, Kenton, north-west London

This morning I decided to check on and then film my neighbours' marquee.

The storm picked it up and threw it into my garden with dramatic effect.

Luckily no one was injured and the structure has now been made safe by my neighbour and me.

Everything is calm now. My neighbour will have to pick up the pieces now and mend my fence.