Storm Imogen: Pictures show damage caused by hurricane-force winds that battered Britain and knocked out power

15,000 homes were left without power while cars were destroyed under falling trees and waves reached heights of 19m

(Getty Images)

Storm Imogen’s onslaught of hurricane-force winds has battered Britain, leaving 15,000 homes without power and people’s cars crushed under fallen trees.

Pictures show the damage caused by the winds of nearly 100mph, with flooding in the streets, trucks blown over on roads and waves reaching up to 19m out at sea.

Coastal towns in Wales and southern and south west England bore the brunt of Storm Imogen, which caused problem for road, rail and ferry routes.

About 55 Environment Agency flood warnings are in place due to the heavy downpours, particularly across the South West and Midlands, while a further 182 less severe flood warnings have been issued.


 Waves hit a lighthouse on the harbour in Newhaven, East Sussex
 (Getty Images)


 Recovery vehicles work to right an oerturned lorry on the M4 between Bridgend and Port Talbot 
 (PA)


 A house in Hampshire where a crew from Gosport Fire Station were called to help as a trampiline got stuck on the roof of a conservatory following high wings 
 (PA)


 A car which crashed into a fallen tree on the Romsey Road in New Forest, Hampshire
 (PA)


 A flooded road near Lower Brockhampton in Dorset
 (PA)


 Vehicles drive down a flooded road near Lower Brockhampton in Dorset 
 (PA)


 A man moves a traffic cone to close Fistral Beach car park because of strong winds in Newquay
 (Getty Images)


 A collapsed wall in the Worcestershire village of Bretforton near Evesham which injured two children
 (PA)


 Fallen sixty foot oak tree blocks a road in the Hampshire village of Hook 
 (Rex Features)


 A lorry lies overturned off the road when gale force winds hit Brighton
 (EPA)

Waves crash against the harbour wall in Lyme Regis, Dorset (PA)


 A man leans into the wind on the beach at Newhaven
 (Reuters)

Waves crash over the sea wall at Porthcawl in Wales as winds of nearly 100mph battered Britain after Storm Imogen slammed into the south coast bringing fierce gusts and torrential downpours (PA)

Out at sea waves topped 16m (52ft) while a monster wave of 19.1m (63ft) was recorded off St Ives on Monday.

Several people have been injured in the storm. On Monday morning two children were taken to hospital after a stone wall fell on them in Bretforton, Worcestershire, while a man in his 70s suffered a broken leg when a 5ft garden wall blew onto him in Bognor Regis – an incident that killed his dog.

In Bristol, a man in his 40s was injured after trees fell onto a three-storey block of flats.

In Cornwall, RSPCA inspector Mike Reid, 54, has been reported missing after he went to the aid of around 30 gannets stranded on rocks near Penzance on Sunday.

Additional reporting by PA