Britain braced for more bad weather

Gale force winds, snow, sleet and rain which battered parts of Britain and left around 10,000 homes across the north-east of England without power are set to continue Wednesday, forecasters warned. Some transport routes also remain closed after yesterday'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, central England. Gale force winds, which reached up nearly 70mph last night, also show little sign of relenting in northern areas of England and Wales, according to forecasters. The Powergrid in northern England said its engineers had been working throughout the night to restore power to customers after more than 200 faults were reported yesterday. Power cuts began to hit the Northumberland area yesterday afternoon as overhead cables were blown down by strong winds before areas further south began to be affected. Rain and snow also caused delays in fixing the problems. It came after 11,000 Scottish Hydro customers were left without power yesterday morning. Forecasters said between 15-20cm of snow fell in high parts of the Lake District, and several other areas in the north west of England while trees were felled on higher gound as the Arctic front which battered Scotland yesterday began to move south. Temperatures in London and the south are expected to range between 9C and 12C today with the mercury reaching between 4C and 7C elsewhere, the weathermen said. Temperatures in the north could drop as low as minus 5C overnight however.