Storm Katie: Flights cancelled and property damaged
- Published
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, external to other airports and dozens were cancelled as gusts of up to 106mph hit the south of the country.
More than 200,000 homes were without power at the height of the winds, with thousands still awaiting reconnection.
A kayaker is feared dead after he capsized in the River Wey, Surrey.
Storm Katie disruption round-up
Surrey Police said the man had overturned at about 13:10 BST when the river was flooded, and "a large number of officers" were searching for him.
The Environment Agency issued 20 flood warnings and about 120 alerts across England in response to what it said were "rapidly rising" river levels, external in the wake of the storm.
High winds from the storm left power lines damaged, with about 27,000 homes in England and Wales still without electricity at 17:00.
Many properties will remain without electricity until Tuesday because of the scale of the damage, power firms have said.
Travel disruption included the 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 described 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.
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.
In Alderney, an entire stable was lifted by a gust of wind and dumped into the front of a house as the storm lashed the Channel Islands.
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 that 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 no-one 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, external that their match against Portsmouth had been postponed.
The QE2 Bridge at Dartford, the M48 Severn Crossing and the A38 Tamar Bridge in Cornwall were all shut for several hours causing severe congestion in surrounding areas.
Cross-Channel and Isle of Wight ferry services were subject to delays and temporary sailing restrictions were put in place at the Port of Dover.
Network Rail warned that train services between Salisbury and Exeter St Davids and Stevenage and King's Cross, external will be disrupted until at least the end of the day because of a landslip and power problems.
The strongest winds recorded were on the Isle of Wight, where gusts reached 106mph.
However, other areas 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 late on Monday morning, moving over the southern North Sea where rigs and ships were hit by 60mph winds.
- Published27 March 2016
- Published28 March 2016
- Published28 March 2016
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- Published28 March 2016
- Published28 March 2016