Weather: Problems continue as power restored to homes

High winds caused this tree to fall damaging a car in a Cardiff street

Thousands of homes have had power restored after storm damage, but bad weather continues to cause problems across Wales.

Western Power said 20,000 customers lost power on Sunday, with Swansea and east Wales worst affected.

Power was restored to the last 1,200 homes on Monday morning.

Some roads are blocked by trees and two trains from London to Cardiff were cancelled, with others facing delays, and eight flood alerts remain in force.

Houses in Swansea, Cardiff and east Wales lost power on the weekend after the area was hit by strong winds with speeds of up to 60mph.

Although 20,000 customers were affected, no more than 5,000 were cut off at any one time.

Western Power said it would continue to monitor the weather.

First Great Western said all train lines were closed due to flooding between Swindon and Bristol Parkway and the 07:15 BST and 08:15 BST departures from London Paddington to Cardiff were cancelled.

Roof debris from flats caused problems at Wildmill in Bridgend

The operator said services running through those stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 50 minutes or diverted.

Disruption is expected until 23:00 BST on Monday. A reduced service is operating between Newport and Cardiff.

On the roads, the A470 remains closed due to a fallen tree between the A465 Heads Of The Valleys Road at Cefn Coed Roundabout, Merthyr Tydfil and the A4059 at Nantddu.

A fallen tree closed the A472 at Pontypool in both directions between the A4043 and the A467, Hafod-Yr-Ynys Road.

Emergency services are trying to remove the tree and drivers are warned to expect delays.

Between 40mm and 60mm of rain was forecast overnight into Monday for east Wales, prompting the Met Office to issued a "be prepared" warning for the whole of the country, with a risk of localised flooding and winds exceeding 50-60mph.

North Wales Fire and Rescue Service dealt with flooding incidents overnight in Deeside, Mold and Holyhead in Flintshire, and Rhyl in Denbighshire.

At the weekend, Cardiff council alone was called to more than 57 reports of fallen trees.

Winds reached 63mph at Aberdaron, Gwynedd, and 66mph at Mumbles, near Swansea.

A Western Power spokesperson said on Sunday that staff dealt with 10 times the normal volume of faults due to the weather, and all offices were open as staff worked to resolve the problems.

Around 5,000 homes were originally without power.

People living in some homes in the Cynon Valley were evacuated for a short time while trees were made safe.

Newport University's city centre campus was closed on Monday after wind caused damage to the roof. It is expected to re-open on Tuesday.

Roof blown off

Ysgol Y Wern in Llanishen, Cardiff, was closed on Monday after the roof blew off.

A Cardiff council spokesman said it set up an emergency response centre at the weekend to coordinate the volume of calls of fallen trees.

Rhondda Cynon Taf council said it had been alerted to a number of fallen trees, and firefighters in south, mid and west Wales were busy on Sunday with minor weather-related calls.

At Wildmill in Bridgend, roof debris from a block of flats blew down into the street.

Behnaz Akghar, BBC Wales weather presenter, said Monday would improve for a time, but warned that there would be a deterioration overnight.

She said there would be a drier and brighter start across north Wales, but the area of low pressure would still be in charge in the south east at first.

Monday night will be dry initially, but wind and rain will follow. There is also a warning of heavy rain and strong winds again on Tuesday.