STORM Franklin brought chaos and carnage to the region yesterday, tearing down trees, ripping bricks from houses, flooding schools and causing motorway crashes. 

Looking back, it’s a wonder more people weren’t injured or even killed as 60-70mph winds with spells of torrential rain cascaded through our towns – causing huge travel disruption and leaving nearly 2,000 households powerless, as teams of emergency workers sought to keep the public safe.

While Sunday’s weather was far from still as Franklin loomed large, the Met Office issued a “treat to life” warning for Monday morning, which would bear the brunt of yet more torrid weather.

This would be the third life-threatening storm inside a week.

Police were forced to close the A666 between Darwen and Bolton, a major commuter route, as a vast tree was uprooted, falling across two lanes and blocking traffic in both directions. 

At the time of writing, with efforts to remove the tree ongoing, the road was still closed leaving many forced into staying home, though no injuries had been reported.

Shortly after, news broke of a terrifying early morning incident on the M6 at Chorley, where a lorry had collided with a bridge in the high winds and became engulfed in flames.

Police later offered an update which confirmed the driver had managed to flee the burning HGV and had been taken to hospital where he was being treated for head injuries, but the southbound route remained closed.

Elsewhere, a truck on the M60 at Manchester was blown over and onto its side causing yet more delays to commuters all across a battered North West.

As the inclement weather continued throughout the morning, so did the chaos and carnage.

Pupils and parents had a fortunate escape as another tree fell outside Haslingden Primary School just prior to dropping-off time, while Coates Lane Primary School in Barnoldswick was forced into further closure after the half-term break as classrooms flooded.

Northern Rail, whose services had been disrupted for much of the weekend, warned travellers that almost all trains on Northern lines were set to be ‘cancelled, delayed or suspended’. 

There was further devastation on Langroyd Road, Colne, as strong Sunday night winds lashed a gable end resulting in several bricks falling onto parked cars below. 

It was only as daylight commenced yesterday that the extent of the damage could be realised.

Thankfully, it appears as though almost everyone managed to avoid catastrophe in terms of personal health, but personal wealth may take a hit over the coming weeks as homeowners and motorists look to put the damage caused by a wicked Storm Franklin, right.