Fierce winds bring chaos to Coventry and Warwickshire

[dutchman]

Fierce winds battered Coventry and Warwickshire today, wrecking travel plans, uprooting trees and damaging buildings.



Gusts of up to 50mph caused chaos as the storm which had brought Scotland and north England to its knees swept through the region.

A family was lucky to escape injury when a massive tree fell on to the roof of a terraced house in Trentham Road, Hillfields, Coventry, at about 2pm.

Artor Zieminski, who lives there with his wife and two young children, said: “I was out but my wife and two children were at home.

“She called me and said a tree had fallen on the house and I thought it would have been a small tree and she was over-reacting.

“But when I got back and saw it I couldn’t believe it. Inside there is no ceiling or sky, just tree.”

In Nuneaton, several tiles were torn off the roof of Etone sixth form college, forcing the closure of nearby Trent Road, at its junction with Oaston Road.

No lessons were disrupted but students have been told to stay at home tomorrow as workmen repair the damage.

Head teacher Colin Turner said: “The school will be closed to students tomorrow, apart from those in Year 11 who have to come in for exams.

“Roofing contractors were soon on site today and will be working to repair the damage.”

A garden gazebo was blown on to the railway line in Coventry and there were two two-hour delays between Rugby and Trent Valley in Rugeley, Staffordshire.

Several flights into Birmingham Airport, particularly from Scotland, were delayed, and one passenger jet had to abort a landing at Birmingham and divert to Gatwick instead.

Many roads were blocked by fallen trees, including in Finham, Stretton-on-Dunsmore, Lea Marston, Bishop’s Itchington, Kenilworth and Stratford, and a wall was blown down in Crowhill Road, Whitestone, Nuneaton.