A FAMILY had a lucky escape when high winds brought tons of masonry from the chimney stack crashing down through the roof of their home.

Gerard Collins, his wife and two daughters, were in bed at their home Hood House, Manchester Road, Burnley, at about 8am when they heard a "big bang".

Mr Collins said: "The chimney came down through the attic ceiling. It was like an earthquake."

He said they were decorating rooms in the house and had thought about sleeping in the attic last night. "It is very fortunate we decided against it," he said.

Leading Firefighter Steve Houldsworth said: "The wind brought the chimney crashing over through the roof. There is a possibility it could collapse again and all we can do now is to take some of the weight off the roof."

The winds tore the roof from a garage across the road. Parts of a garden fence were blown into the road lower down and bowls from street lights also collapsed in the road.

In Rossendale, workers from the council's direct labour organisation were called to remove panes of glass from a covered walkway at Victoria Parade, Waterfoot, when the wind started ripping them out and smashing them on to the main road.

Building inspectors were called at about 8.30am and ordered that workers remove several panes. At the same time they noticed a chimney stack on Royal Taxis building at the Traffic lights junction of Bacup Road and Burnley Road East was in a dangerous condition.

Highways manager David Rigby said: "Winds were gusting at about 50 to 60mph through the Valley and because Rossendale is a long corridor Waterfoot seems to have been worst hit. "We sealed the footpath off near to Royal Taxis building and some work will have to be carried out to make the chimney safe."

The River Calder was today threatening to burst its banks near to the main road between Todmorden and Hebden Bridge and storms left a trail of havoc through Pendle.

Sergeant John Fryer, of Pendle police, said: "We've been extremely busy with calls coming in from the public about storm damage.

"We've had trees down, chimney pots down, windows being blown out and there has been lots of minor flooding in the Barnoldswick area. Hundreds of alarms have been going off with the high winds.

"The bad weather seemed to come in from Yorkshire, through West Craven, Nelson, Burnley and then on to Rossendale. It's created a trail of havoc."

The A56 Skipton Road, Earby, was flooded near the Punch Bowl pub. A car was stranded in the middle of the flood, blocking the main road, and traffic was diverted through Barnoldswick for two hours until the water subsided and the car could be moved. There was also flooding on the A6068 Keighley Road, Laneshawbridge, near Hartley Hospital, and other rural roads. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal overflowed on to Greenberfield Lane, Barnoldswick.

A chimney pot was blown from the roof of the Cross Gaites pub, Blacko, and trees were blown down in Barkerhouse Road, Nelson, Red Lane, Colne, and Wheatley Lane Road, Fence. Traffic lights at the junction of Skipton Road and Keighley Road, Colne, were blown through 90 degrees causing confusion for motorists.

Gale force winds coincided with dustbin collection rounds in parts of Pendle and Burnley. Wheelie bins were blown over into the road and rubbish was spread by the wind.

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