Two die as gales ravage Britain

Fierce gales caused chaos across Britain yesterday, causing widespread flooding, power cuts and bridge closures. Sports events and ferry services were also disrupted.

The Met Office said winds gusting to 80mph swept across the Atlantic to Scotland, Wales and western England, and predicted that stronger winds will strike southern England today.

A spokesman said force 10 winds are expected inland, with force 11 storm gusts likely to whip through the English Channel.

An 83-year-old woman is in a critical condition after being hit on the head by a large flower stall parasol blown over by strong winds in Cardiff city centre, police said.

A motorcyclist was killed in an accident at the height of the gales on the Aberdeen to Peterhead road.

Thousands of houses in Northern Ireland, Hampshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Orkney, Shetland and Invernesshire lost electricity supplies after gales brought down power lines.

Floods struck Wales: firemen pumped storm water from homes in Llandidloes, Powys. Traffic in north Wales was halted by 3ft of floodwater.

In Scotland ferry services were devastated, with operator Caledonian- MacBrayne ordering vessels into safe harbours, instead of risking crossings on the Clyde and to the Western Isles.

Winds were also strong in the Irish Sea, with both P&O and Stena Line abandoning sailings from Britain to Northern Ireland and the Republic. Coastguards called off the search for a Spanish trawlerman swept overboard off the west coast of Ireland.

Streets in Bristol city centre were closed after gantries carrying Christmas lights were blown across four lanes of traffic. "How people were not injured, I do not know," said police sergeant John Cook.

A 30ft tree at Sobell House, at the Churchill cancer hospice in Oxfordshire, with up to 300 fairy lights on it - each one dedicated to a patient who had died there - was blown down.

Birdlovers were searching for 40 rescued owls swept away by winds which wrecked their aviary at the Hawksrest Owl Sanctuary in Bawtry, Nottinghamshire. They were hand reared and could not fend for themselves said a spokesman.

The old M48 Severn Crossing was closed, as was the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, Dartford. Motorcycles and light and high-sided vehicles were banned from the Forth Road Bridge, near Edinburgh.

An AA spokesman said: "We have been called out to incidents where cars have hit water, lost control and crashed."

A Wiltshire driver drove his car into a river, but escaped drowning by climbing onto its roof until fire crews arrived to rescue him.

Racing at Newbury and Uttoxeter was abandoned. Four FA Cup ties, six Nationwide English league games and two Tennants Scottish Cup ties were among soccer and rugby fixtures cancelled.