Owners of a solar farm torn to pieces were among those counting the cost of killer Storm Darragh – as recovery work was ongoing on Monday.
Hundreds of panels at the giant 190-acre Porth Wen solar farm in Anglesey, North Wales – only built two years ago – were blown off their mountings, some ripped to shreds.
The site at Llanbadrig, in the north of the island which is owned by French power firm EDF Energy and powers up to 9,500 households, now needs significant repairs.
Elsewhere on the island of Anglesey, blades were sheared off a wind turbine which then reportedly caught fire.
Work was continuing yesterday to reconnect thousands of homes left without power and reopen a string of railway lines in Wales and the West Country which were blocked by fallen trees.
Storm Darragh brought severe gusts which reached 96mph at Berry Head, Devon, and gales to the whole Irish Sea coast extending eastwards inland.
A rare red weather warning was issued for the west of England and Wales warning people not to go out unless essential and avoid making journeys by road.
On Monday, the second victim of the storm was named as family man Kher Hussain Shahin, 56, who died in Erdington, Birmingham, on Saturday evening.
The ‘hard-working’ father-of-seven was named on social media by Birmingham city councillor Majid Mahmood, who wrote on X: ‘My thoughts are prayers are with the family of Kher Hussain Shahin who was killed when his car was hit by a tree in Erdington.’
One resident, Hafiz Khalid saying he heard a “big bang” and his daughter’s scream as she looked out the window. Mr Khalid told the BBC a “big chunk” of the tree had fallen across the car’s windscreen.
The storm’s other victim Paul Fiddler, who was in his 40s, was named on Sunday. Mr Fiddler, a coach for Lytham Town FC, died when a tree fell onto his van on Saturday morning at Longton, Lancashire.
On Monday afternoon, 33 flood warnings and 116 flood alerts remained in force as rivers were still swollen from heavy rain during the storm – the fourth of the current season which began in September and the third in a fortnight.
Most warnings covered rivers such as the Wye and Severn, the Ouse including through York, which burst its banks in the city centre, and areas of Hampshire and Cambridgeshire.
Ther worst-affected rail operators, GWR and Transport for Wales, were hoping to restore affected services by Tuesday but passengers were advised to check travel information before leaving setting out to catch trains.
Meanwhile, the owner of Gade II-listed Llandudno Pier has promised to get it fixed and reopened ‘as soon as possible’ after it was battered by Storm Darragh
Adam Williams expressed gratitude for the ‘unbelievable’ worldwide support after the 148-year-old structure suffered severe damage including kiosks being blown from their positions or having their roofs damaged by the the hurricane-force winds.
The Met Office has predicted a break in the unsettled weather pattern over the coming days.
Today and tomorrow, showers are due to become confined to the far south but it is due to remain cloudy, before an area of high pressure begins to dominate bringing ‘mostly fine weather with some sunshine’.
But it is due to be chillier at night, with some frost and fog.