110mph St Jude's Storm lashes Britain Monday Oct 28,2013

Hurricane-force winds and torrential rain are battering southern England with gusts of almost 100mph ripping up trees, tearing through property and causing flash flooding. 

Millions of commuters have been left stranded and warned not to travel today unless it is essential, with at least 40 railway lines blocked, roads left impassable and hundreds of flights cancelled because of the most dangerous storm for years

More than 40,000 homes in the south are currently without power and the Environment Agency has 19 flood warnings and 147 flood alerts in place.

Trees have been brought down by high winds, damaging property, and a number of roads left impassable by floodwater.

A crane above Downing Street collapsed onto the roof of the Cabinet Office

The Emirates Air Line, a cable car link over the Thames, was grounded by the high winds in London this morning

Waves crash near Brighton Pier in East Sussex, as England and Wales face a battering from the worst storm in a decade

 People watch rough seas in the harbour at Porthleven, Cornwall, as England and Wales face a battering from the worst storm in five years

 Waves smash into the pier at Porthleven, Cornwall, as the UK prepares for the worse storm in years. An amber weather warning has been issued

Two men watch as as huge waves crash against a sea wall in Aberystwyth, Wales

At Heathrow Airport, a spokesman said cancellations were made to give passengers advanced information about their flights ahead of the expected disruption.

About 30 flights will be cancelled from 6-11am, 20 from 11am-4pm and 10 from 4-10.30pm, a combination of arrivals and departures.

Children on their half-term break from school look at a giant tree that was blown over onto the park side of a residential street in Southampton

Trees brought down caused four deaths in southern England, compared with five or six caused by such incidents in an average year

 

Broadband cables and the trenches dug to carry them may have contributed to the number of trees that fell in the St Jude’s storm

 

Thousands of trees were brought down by the St Jude’s storm, but it does not match the level of destruction in the Great Storm of 1987. Then, 15million trees are thought to have fallen, causing 18 deaths