Wales weather: Many still without power after 109mph gales

Engineers are working to reconnect power to around 1,000 properties in north Wales cut off since the Boxing Day gales which have battered much of Britain.

At least five hundred homes in the worst affected areas of Anglesey and Gwynedd were reconnected on Saturday.

Council workers have continued to clear fallen trees from roads following gusts of up to 109mph (175 km/h).

Meanwhile the Met Office has issued a yellow alert for heavy rain on Monday.

There was one flood warning still in place for the Lower Dee Valley and a flood alert for rivers in south Pembrokeshire as of 15:20 GMT on Saturday.

The high winds caused a string of incidents of structural damage, including slates falling into the Maes in Caernarfon and in Bangor High Street.

In south west Wales fire crews were called out to a number of towns in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire to deal with falling slates and chimney stacks.

Arriva Trains Wales said a replacement bus was still operating between Harlech and Pwllheli on Saturday due to damage to a river bridge at Llandecwyn.

But services in the south Wales valleys between Aberdare and Mountain Ash have been restored after earlier problems due to signalling equipment damaged by flooding.

ScottishPower said it was working to reconnect homes and businesses which have lost power during the gales, cancelling all non-essential maintenance work and bringing in extra contractors.

The company has reconnected around 20,000 homes across north and mid Wales since the storm hit.

Guy Jefferson, network operations director for ScottishPower, told BBC Radio Wales on Saturday it had been a challenging time to restore power while the winds were still strong.

"It's been a bit of a nightmare for our staff - the conditions yesterday were absolutely appalling but they've made some inroads," he said.

"We've made significant progress and we are targeting to try and get the customers that are still off back on today."

Around 1,000 properties were still without power as of 16:30 GMT on Saturday.

Meanwhile the Met Office has issued a yellow alert ahead of heavy rain and wind on Monday, with Wales, south west England and Scotland predicted to be the worst affected areas of the UK.

Heavy rain is expected to spread across south Wales and south west England on Sunday night into Monday morning.

Winds of 60 to 70mph are likely in Wales, and up to 80mph in exposed parts of west Wales.

"With ground already saturated over much of this region, the public should be aware of the risk of further local flooding," the Met Office said.

A Currys store in Llandudno suffered wind damage in the stormy weather