IT is the calm after the storm today as Storm Ciara wreaked havoc across Solihull.
The Met Office says Storm Ciara brought widespread gales and wet weather to the UK across weekend, with the highest wind gust at lower levels of 97mph at Needles, Isle of Wight.
In the West Midlands area, the highest was a gust of 61mph was recorded at Coleshill, Warwickshire.
An amber weather warning for wind, in place across most of England, ended at 9pm on Sunday as Storm Ciara moved away to the north-east of Scotland.
Today (Monday February 10) and tomorrow (Tuesday February 11) the Met Office reports a mixture of brighter weather and a few blustery showers, feeling cold in the breeze with top temps of around 6 Celsius.
West Midlands Fire Service received 26 weather related calls yesterday (Sunday February 9) with the majority between 8am and 5pm and seven involving fallen trees.
A spokesman said: “Yesterday the bulk of incidents we attended happened between 8am and 5pm. We did have a couple after 5pm but none after midnight.
“We had 26 weather related calls. Of these 26, we attended 23 and in the other three we gave appropriate advice, referring to the council. Fifteen of these involved loose roof tiles, chimneys and fascia boards. Seven of these involved fallen trees and one involved a fallen lamppost.”
An uprooted tree fell down between two homes on Richmond Road, Solihull narrowly averting disaster; while a large tree fell across Warwick Road near Dovehouse Parade, Solihull blocking the road.
West Midlands Ambulance Service says it was not called out to any serious weather related incidents.
Today it was reported that a 58-year-old man died on Sunday after a tree fell on his car in Hampshire during Storm Ciara on the A33 just before 4pm. He died at the scene. Elsewhere in the UK, more than 20,000 homes spent the night without power.
Many trains, flights and were cancelled or delayed, while drivers faced difficult conditions with flood water, fallen trees and other debris closing roads.
Flightradar24, a global flight tracking service, yesterday reported “very big delays at airports around Europe because of #StormCiara” with 101 cancellations at Birmingham Airport.
A Ryan Air flight was also diverted from Birmingham Airport to Manchester due to the extreme conditions. A statement from Ryan Air reads: “This flight from Dublin to Birmingham (February 9) diverted to Manchester due to high winds at Birmingham airport. The flight landed normally at Manchester, and customers were transferred to Birmingham airport by coach shortly after.”
This morning a spokeswoman at Birmingham Airport said: “It is business as usual today. There has been no disruption today due to Storm Ciara.”
Avanti West Coast services on the west coast mainline are still disrupted today due to a number of trains being re-routed.
An update on Twitter today said: “Disruption is still expected throughout the day. Please check for live updates before travelling here: http://avantiwestcoast.co.uk/live.”
