Storm Arwen: Man killed and thousands lose power

A man has been killed by a falling tree and thousands of homes left without power after Storm Arwen battered the North of England.

Emergency services were called to Ambleside, in the Lake District, at about 23:00 GMT on Friday but police said the man died at the scene.

A Met Office red warning for wind for parts of northern England ended early on Saturday.

There are further warnings for wind and ice across the UK this weekend.

Cumbria Police has advised people to avoid the Vicarage Road area of Ambleside where the man was struck by the tree. He has not yet been named.

Elsewhere, the Met Office said a gust of 98mph (158km/h) was recorded at Brizlee Wood, near Alnwick, in Northumberland.

People are being advised to travel only when necessary with train services affected and some roads shut.

Police said conditions on a number of roads were hazardous because of falling trees, high winds and snow.

Northern Powergrid said severe gales had caused power cuts for almost 220,000 of its customers with the majority of those affected in Northumberland, County Durham and Tyne and Wear.

Supplies had been restored to more than 110,000 people by 11:45 GMT on Saturday.

However, high winds and the risk of flying debris meant it was unsafe for teams to climb and repair damage to power lines and "many customers" were likely to be without power for the rest of the day and into Sunday.

The firm said the storm had led to more than 530 reports of damage since 18:00 GMT on Friday.

Its major incident manager Rod Gardner said: "Storm Arwen has already caused significant disruption to parts of our network and the storm force winds, which are continuing to batter our region, are not expected to ease until later today.

"The storm is still ongoing and our engineers are doing everything possible to assess the scale of the damage and extensive repairs required.

"We have all our resources in place and our priority is to deal with emergency situations, support our customers and ensure our people can work safely as soon as the conditions allow."

Electricity North West described conditions as "treacherous", with 74,000 properties in Cumbria and Lancashire losing power.

It said fallen trees blocking roads had delayed engineers attempting to make repairs, but by 15:00 GMT they had restored power to more than 50,000 properties.

In the West of England, about 10,000 homes lost power.

About 120 HGV drivers were stuck on the M62 near Rochdale after a jack-knifed lorry led to the motorway's partial closure.

Both carriageways between junctions 21 and 22 were hit by heavy snow at about 02:20 GMT. The road reopened at about 11:00 GMT.

Greater Manchester Police said there were a number of road closures in the Oldham area due to fallen trees.

In Lancashire, police said a driver had a "lucky escape" after a tree hit his car while he was travelling along Lodge Lane in Elswick at about 05:00 GMT.

Meanwhile, in County Durham, the roof of the clubhouse came off at Chester-le-Street Town FC, landing on the Northern League division two team's pitch.

Yellow Met Office warnings for high winds remain in place until 18:00 on Saturday.

A yellow warning for ice, lasting until 11:00 on Sunday, has been issued for much of northern England.

London North Eastern Railway has advised people not to travel this weekend.

It said no trains would run north of Newcastle throughout Saturday and has advised customers not to travel beyond York.

No trains are running on the Tyne and Wear Metro after what the company described as "some of the worst storm damage we have seen in 40 years".

Services have been suspended for all of Saturday and passengers are being told tickets will be accepted on bus services.

Operator, Nexus, said teams were inspecting lines and clearing trees and other debris, however, the suspension may remain in place on Sunday, a spokesman added.

Northern said it had closed a number of routes due to snow, trees and debris on the line.

Cumbria Police urged people to only travel if necessary amid hazardous conditions and it said a number of roads had been affected.

Friday night's rugby union Premiership game between Newcastle Falcons and Worcester Warriors was postponed until Saturday evening due to safety concerns, however England Women's game against Austria in Sunderland went ahead.

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