Weather: Power cuts in Swansea and Cardiff due to strong winds

Around 5,000 homes have lost power in Swansea, Cardiff and east Wales in stormy weather.

Western Power said more than 50 faults were affecting networks which control power to large numbers of homes, with more affecting smaller communities.

Several roads were blocked by fallen trees as driving rain and strong winds, with speeds of up to 60mph, continue to cause problems across Wales.

Cardiff Council alone was called to more than 57 reports of fallen trees.

Between 40mm and 60mm of rain is forecast for east Wales.

The Met Office issued a "be prepared" warning for the whole of Wales, with a risk of localised flooding and winds exceeding 50-60mph.

A windspeed of 63mph was recorded at Aberdaron in Gwynedd, and 66mph at Mumbles near Swansea.

A Western Power spokesperson said staff are dealing with 10 times the normal volume of faults due to the weather with trees bringing down cables and debris on power lines.

She said all offices are open with staff working to resolve problem as quickly as possible.

A group of homes in the Cynon Valley were evacuated for a couple of hours while trees were made safe.

Fallen trees are reported to have blocked roads in Powys, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport and the Vale of Glamorgan.

The M48 Severn Bridge was also closed in both directions to high sided vehicles on Sunday morning due to strong winds.

Drivers are also being warned to take care on the M4 because of fallen trees, with one lane blocked eastbound near Bridgend.

A Cardiff Council spokesman said they set up an emergency response centre to coordinate the volume of calls of fallen trees, which came city-wide, from Adamsdown to Radyr.

Rhondda Cynon Taf Council said it had been alerted to a number of fallen trees, including some that have fallen onto cars and also onto a house.

Firefighters in south, mid and west Wales say they have been busy this morning dealing with minor weather-related calls.

They say there are concerns about strong winds blowing down shop signs and causing damage to roofs in Swansea, Port Talbot, Ammanford and parts of south-east Wales.

At Wildmill in Bridgend, roof debris from a block of flats blew down into the street.

Resident Rob Parry said: "The roof is from a block of flats and the fire service have cleared the road, but the roof is just on the side now.

"Some of the debris hit a car, but thankfully it wasn't damaged."

A group of Bron-y-Deri residents in Mountain Ash, in the Cynon Valley, had to evacuate their homes after a tree fell onto a conservatory.

Resident Steven Bull said there were concerns about the stability of other trees in the road.

"Our house is next to a slope where there's six or seven trees, and one of the trees fell on the back of another house, on their conservatory, and smashed the fence," he said.

"There are seven firefighters there at the moment.

"There was a loud crash. I thought some of my fencing had come off."

There was one flood alert on the rivers Ebbw, Sirhowy and Lwyd in south Wales at 15:30 BST.

Have you been affected by the wind and heavy rain? You can send us your experiences using the form below.

The roof of our shed blew off down the hill and smashed to pieces and twice weve had to go out to retrieve our bin from the road. There is building site and there is many concerns that the fencing and building supplies may injure someone.

Oliver Newman, Llan Ffestiniog, Gwynedd

My roof has part blown off. Good job my children or myself were not out front, debris all over front garden, pavement and road

Miss Phillips, Port Talbot,

A mountain near to where I live has had a lot of trees blown down, must have been at least 50+ trees yesterday but now there's only a few, if the wind had been blowing in the opposite direction, houses could have been in danger, on Bridgend Road, Pontycymer, there could still be a danger to residents that live locally

Kevin, Pontycymer

The coping tiles on myn garage roof have been blown off during the high winds, there is now a danger of the garage roof getting blown off. My problem is that my insurer RIAS do not operate on a Sunday.

K Baxter, Bridgend

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