4 Apr 2012

Wintry weather brings disruption to Britain

Around 40,000 homes in England are without power as gale-force winds, snow, sleet and rain affect much of Britain.

Approximately 80,000 properties in the North East and Yorkshire suffered power cuts overnight after heavy ice and snow felled overhead powerlines.

Engineers working around the clock had by 8am restored power to 50 per cent of those properties, a Northern Powergrid spokesman said.

A further 200 incidents of damage, affecting 40,000 or so properties, remain to be repaired.

The engineers are facing difficulties including drifting snow in their attempts to find and repair the damage.

Some transport routes also remain closed after Tuesday’s wintry blast of weather brought Britain’s early summer to an abrupt end.

The Met Office has issued severe yellow weather warnings for show and ice in parts of Scotland, Wales, northern England and the Midlands.

Gale-force winds, which reached nearly 70mph last night, also show little sign of relenting in northern areas of England and Wales, according to forecasters.

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Forecasters said between 15-20cm of snow fell in high parts of the Peak District, Pennines and Cumbria overnight, while trees were felled on higher ground as the Arctic front which battered Scotland yesterday began to move south.

Cumbria police said the A66 trans-Pennine route remains closed in both directions due to severe weather conditions and advised drivers to use alternative routes. The A537 in Cheshire was also badly affected by snow this morning.

Snow brought traffic problems across North and West Yorkshire.

West Yorkshire Police said there had been a number of minor traffic-related incidents on the M1 and M62, with cars slipping in the wintry conditions.

On the eastbound M62 between Junctions 22 and 23 at Huddersfield, a broken-down lorry was causing problems.

The A57 Snake Pass, which links Sheffield and Manchester, was closed due to the snow.

In North Yorkshire, 3ft snow drifts were causing problems for motorists in parts of the county, mainly on routes across the North York Moors.

Police said a driver was stuck on the A169 near Pickering and a snow plough was sent to help but came off the road and struck a power line. Gritters were then sent to the scene to assist the motorist, police said.

Three HGVs were also stuck in snow on the B1248 near Wetwang, a spokesman said.

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