Rain and gales prompt hundreds of 999 calls in Wales

Fire crews were called to pump away water in locations across south Wales

Severe weather has caused disruption as strong winds and heavy rain spread across Wales.

The south appears to be worst affected with reports of up to 4ft (1.2m) of water in places and people abandoning their cars.

South Wales Fire Service said it has been inundated and Dyfed-Powys Police has had "hundreds" of calls about localised flooding and fallen trees.

About 900 homes in Aberdulais in the Neath Valley lost power for a time.

Western Power Distribution said it was due to a main electrical cable coming down.

Earlier, the Met Office issued a yellow warning, of winds up to 70 mph (113km/h) with the worst gusts likely to be experienced in exposed coastal areas.

By 21:45 GMT, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) had six flood warnings in place and said south Gwynedd, Carmarthenshire, and Ceredigion could be badly affected as more rain is expected in coming days.

The six flood warnings are at: Llandysul, Nant-y-Moel, Ammanford and Llandybie, Cwmtwrch, the Pendine tidal area and the Dale tidal area.

There are also 27 flood alerts, stretching from Swansea Bay to the north Wales coast, which was badly hit by strong winds and a storm surge during high tides two weeks ago.

Fallen trees

Gwent Police said there was 3-4ft (0.9 to 1.2m) of water on the B4521 at Cross Ash near Abergavenny, in Monmouthshire.

Also in Monmouthshire, the A472 in Usk flooded and there were reports of people abandoning vehicles in 2ft (0.6m) of water at Switchgear roundabout in Blackwood, Gwent.

South Wales Police said a fallen tree had blocked Llantwit Road in Treforest, and there were two trees down on the B4242 Cadoxton to Resolven road.

Cemetery Road in Aberdare was described by police as "like a river" and heavily flooded and the fire service requested sandbags for Merthyr, Rhymney, Aberdare, Treorchy, and Maesteg areas.

The A465 Heads of the Valleys road eastbound from Cefn Coed to Dowlais is closed and diversions are in place.

The old M48 Severn Bridge closed due high winds and was expected to remain shut until 23:00 GMT on Wednesday.

Dyfed-Powys Police said Pembrokeshire and Powys were hit badly, while Ceredigion seemed to have escaped the worst.

'Treacherous'

Earlier, Steve Cook, flood strategy manager at NRW, told BBC Wales: "There is going to be persistent heavy rain coming through and that's going to cause localised flooding particularly of roads, which is going to make travelling quite treacherous particularly with the high winds."

He said with water flowing into rivers, levels would rise which trigger flood alerts and warnings.

He added: "With the leaves coming off the trees, particularly blown by the high winds, it does mean that there is that potential for surface water flooding the drains.

"We also want people to be aware of coastal flooding."

Elsewhere, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has issued multiple flood warnings as the country prepares for high winds and rain.

The warnings, indicating "flooding is expected, immediate action required", cover parts of Argyll and Bute, Ayrshire and Arran, west central Scotland and Tayside.

An amber warning of severe gales has been issued by the Met Office for the Highlands and Strathclyde, as well as Northern Ireland.