WINDS up to 80 miles an hour bought down trees causing traffic havoc on county roads and leaving thousands without power over the weekend.

In Worcester, part of New Road, by the cricket ground, was blocked after a rotten tree was felled in the early hours of Saturday morning. Workmen cleared the scene by 10am.

Minicab driver Wayne Lloyd, of St John's, who reported the fallen tree, said it took 45 minutes before council workers arrived to clear the road.

"I dialled 999 and cleared as much debris as possible at about 6.15am. I switched on my hazard lights to warn othjer drivers of the danger," he said.

Mr Lloyd also reported debris strewn in the road in Fernhill Heath.

Traffic lights in the centre of St John's were out of action for some time.

The storms kept the two work gangs employed by Worcestershire County Council to help deal with emergency calls, extremely busy.

"It's been hectic," said Andy Cole , a work gang member. "It's been particularly busy around Clifton-on-Teme and Upton.

"We were expecting the weather to be quite bad and it was.

"There was a back-up team on standby for the jobs we couldn't get to."

Central Networks spokesman Jonathan Smith said 90,000 customers across the East and West Midlands were left without power - including thousands in Worcestershire and Herefordshire - but were reconnected by midnight last night.

On Saturday morning the gusts reached their peak and touched 80 miles an hour. In built up areas speeds upwards of 60mph were recorded, said Evening News weatherman, Paul Damari. He said winds of up to 50mph were again recorded last night and warned of further dangerous gusts.

"The strong winds were expected, and there will probably be more stormy weather in the next few weeks," he said.

RAC spokeswoman Tess Richardson, warned drivers to be vigilant on narrow country lanes.

"Smaller roads in the two counties are very likely to be affected.

"Motorists should be aware of falling branches and debris being blown onto the road, as well as slippery leaves and patches of water.

800 homes left without power

EIGHT hundred homes were left without power because of the storms over the weekend.

The homes, around Cookley, north of Kidderminster, were blacked out after high winds disrupted power lines between 4am and 6am, on Saturday morning.

Central Networks engineers were working to restore the supply to the affected properties, said company spokesman, Jonathan Smith.

The company is responsible for maintaining the distribution of power to 4.8 million people across the midlands.

"We put our engineers on amber alert on Friday in anticipation of bad weather overnight, so we were able to call them out early on Saturday," he said.

Engineers worked throughout the weekend to restore power.

Most of the jobs aren't complex," added Mr Smith, "but our lines were affected across the whole area. It's just getting people to the problem which is taking time."