WORCESTERSHIRE was brushed lightly by stormy weather as the worst affected areas were found in the south of the country.

People had been warned to “batten down the hatches”, with forecasters warning trees could be brought down and structures damaged by winds of up to 80mph.

However, surface water on roads around the county caused the biggest problems as the storm, dubbed St Jude’s Storm after the patron saint of lost causes, wreaked havoc in the south west of the country.

Ian Michaelwaite, from Netweather.tv, based in Pershore, said they had a good indication of roughly where the affected areas would be but the “exact track of the low pressure” was not clear and it “arrived a little bit further south than expected.”

He added: “That’s what happened over the area, so we got brushed by it. At the centre of it is very calm in there and the stronger winds were 40 or 50 miles to the south of it.

“People expecting 60 to 80mph winds were sat there wondering what all the fuss was about apart from the rain.”

Mr Michaelwaite expects the coming days to remain chilly before returning to milder weather with some rain.

The Met Office’s Amber alert for wind was removed as the storm, initially described as a “major Atlantic storm”, cleared the UK by about 10am.

Flooding was experience in Brickfields Road, Worcester, and A4133, School Bank, Ombersley, with surface water being reported on Tolladine Road, A44 and B4550, Rainbow Hill, Worcester.

Rail users also faced disruption during the morning commute.

The Environment Agency issued flood alerts, meaning flooding was possible and people should be prepared, on the Barbourne Brook and river Severn in Worcester.

At noon, the level at the Worcester gauge was 2.14 metres and steady and a peak level of between 2.5 and 2.9 metres is expected to occur tomorrow afternoon.

A slowly rising level of 1.67 metres was measured at Diglis and a peak of between 2 and 2.4 metres is also expected to occur tomorrow afternoon.

The level at Kempsey was 3.85 metres and rising slowly, with a peak level of between 4.1 and 4.6 metres is expected to occur tomorrow afternoon.

The level at the Saxons Lode gauge was 2.25 metres and rising slowly, with a peak of between 2.8 and 3.3 metres is expected tomorrow night.

While the peak on Barbourne Brook occurred at noon, with the level at the Perdiswell gauge being measured at 2.34 metres and steady.

A peak of 1.93 metres and steady was measured at the Wedderburn Bridge gauge of the river Leadon catchment, which includes Ledbury, at 11am and no flooding was expected.