Christmas chaos of E Lancs storm damage

Widespread damage was reported, but no-one was seriously injured as a savage storm lashed the area.

High winds toppled trees, ripped off roofs and gable ends, and blew down chimney pots, slates and signs.

Hundreds of homes were left without electricity on Christmas Day after power lines were brought down.

Winds tore down part of a gable end of a house in Colne exposing the inner bricks and chimney stack. Falling stones landed on a car and crushed it, setting it on fire.

The stones also damaged a second car which minutes before had contained a mother, her young baby and the baby sitter.

The F-registered Vauxhall Cavalier belonging to Brian and Gillian Moggeridge, of Langroyd Road, had been parked underneath the gable end on Glenroy Avenue when winds ripped out the stones.

Mrs Moggeridge said: "We heard a bang and Brian went out but didn't see anything then some neighbours came round and said the car had been hit.

"We went back out and called the fire brigade. It just gradually got worse and when it got to the interior it just went up." The house, on Langroyd Road, belongs to Graham and Julie Broadhead. Pendle Council workers fenced off the road.

In Burnley, a mother-of five left her car just seconds before it was hit by a 50-foot tree blown over in the gale-force winds of Christmas Eve.

Mrs Ann Walsh had just parked her husband's Vauxhall Astra estate and walked to the house in Hargrove Avenue, Burnley, when the tree fell.

She said: "If I had been still in the car I would have been trapped because the tree surrounded the vehicle pinning the doors shut."

The tree, one of several in the grounds of the Malt Shovel, Hargrove Avenue, Burnley, was protected under a tree preservation order, but surgeons brought in by the landlady to remove it said it the roots were rotten which was why it had fallen.

Ann, a dinner lady at Whittlefield School, said: "I didn't hear anything. There was just a gush of wind and timber. I got hit on the back with some of the branches." The tree smashed the car windscreen and wing mirrors and dented the wings, bonnet and roof.

And would-be thieves added insult to injury by trying to steal Ann's son Daniel Barton's car when he came to visit his mother that night to see if she was all right.

He came out of the house to return home to Rosegrove and found the door wide open and the ignition system in pieces.

History repeated itself as for the second time in just over a year high as high winds ripped off part of the roof of the Brunshaw Hotel, Brunshaw Road, on Christmas Eve.

Dave Smith and his wife Sharon have been at of the Bass Tavern for nearly 14 months.

Dave said: "The last time it ripped the roof off the accommodation area and this time it was the section which covers the games room. It went like a sardine can.

"It flung the copper roof across the main road and collided with a wall and a house window. It was lucky no-one was hurt."

Dave said he had already been in contact with his manager at Bass and he was hoping the brewery would look at replacing the whole roof. He had also spoken to the neighbours whose house had been damaged.

The hotel is about 30 years old with a copper roof covering the entire building which is mostly flat topped.

The hotel was open for three hours on Christmas Day and customers enjoyed themselves despite the roof, but just after closing the rains came and Dave said water was cascading into the games section which had to be closed. Dave is not expecting the roof to be repaired before the New Year. In Burnley, a lamp-post on Cumbrian Way collapsed and trees on Eastern Avenue and Townley Holmes Road were uprooted.

A skylight on the former Burco Dean Mill, Accrington Road, was ripped out and part of a roof on a gable end house on St Matthew Street was damaged.

Burnley firefighters were called to dangerous roofs, guttering, chimneys and trees in all areas of the town.

Nelson firefighters were called to remove a tree near to the Moorcock Inn, Blacko, which had blocked Gisburn Road and also to remove lead flashing from a roof of a house on the same road.

In Rossendale, fences and trees were ripped out and in Newchurch the village Christmas tree collapsed.

Bacup firefighters were called to a house on Newchurch Road, Stacksteads, on Boxing Day, after water flooded a cellar starting a fire in the electrical supply.

Hundreds of homes were left without electricity on Christmas Day after power lines were brought down.

Households in Mellor Brook, Pleasington, Ribchester, Downham, Bolton by Bowland, Darwen and Rimington were among those affected.

Callers jammed the Norweb emergency number and engineers worked around the clock to restore supplies.

Lancashire Fire Brigade dealt with almost 900 incidents across the county.

A sixty-foot elm crashed on to the roof of Sparth House Hotel and Restaurant, in Whalley Road, Clayton-le-Moors.

Proprietor Mrs Brenda Coleman said: "We just did not know what was happening. It was like an earthquake. Glasses and optics fell off the bar."

Shocked customers were waiting to go into the restaurant when high winds toppled the tree shortly before 8.30pm on Christmas Eve.

One of the branches ended up sticking through the ceiling of the bar area.

The tree blocked cars in on the staff and owners car park.

But it was business as usual at the hotel and restaurant and a tree surgeon was being brought in to deal with the tree.

Winds of more than 70mph laid waste to Meadowend Kennels at Blackamoor Road, Guide.

None of the hundred-plus animals were injured, but many were left frightened and shocked.

Sharon Williamson, daughter of the proprietor, said: "We actually thought a bomb had exploded.

"It was the crash of the roof coming off the main block of kennels. "It flew over and landed in the yard and hit the side of the house."

She and her family worked through the night on Christmas Eve to evacuate animals and repair costs could run into thousands of pounds.

"We could not stand up. We had hard hats on and protective glasses because of the debris flying around. We have lost all the roofs and the main block of kennels has been obliterated."

Meadowend is appealing for anyone who can help with building works, donations, food or bedding to contact the kennels

A shocked worshipper had a narrow escape when he was showered with falling debris at Troy Street mosque, Blackburn.

Mohammed Chopdat, of Walnut Street, Blackburn, was on his way out after prayers on Christmas Eve, when part of a gable end of the building collapsed onto the mosque entrance.

He was taken to Blackburn Infirmary with cuts and bruises after being pulled from the rubble by fellow worshippers Hanif Saleh, 37, and 17-year-old Sabir Patel. Mr Saleh, a committee member at the mosque, said: "It's a miracle he wasn't more seriously hurt."

In Blackburn town centre a 30-foot high Christmas tree fell over when gales snapped the base of its trunk.

At New Waterside Paper Mill, Eccleshill, Darwen, part of a wall was blown over and crashed through the roof.

Falling brickwork damaged the sprinkler pipes system, sending water on to machinery.

In Hurstwood Avenue, Blackburn, a toppled chimney stack ended up wedged halfway through the roof of a house.

In Accrington firefighters rescued a man stuck on the roof of a house in Rawson Avenue, on Christmas Day afternoon after he had gone to repair a TV aerial and his ladders blew down.

A blocked culvert sent up to a foot of water gushing through a pub and ten homes in Waddington on Christmas Day.

The Higher Buck Inn, The Square, was one of the worst hit. Landlord Stephen Ward, who runs the pub with his wife Bernadette, said: "Water was pouring from Waddington Fell down the main road and then flowed through the pub. "Luckily we closed after Christmas lunch but it has been a real nightmare. Everything was soaked and it will be at least Monday before we can open again."

A Lancashire County Council owned digger was used to unblock the culvert during the two and a half hour operation

A woman was taken to hospital with what are believed to be minor injuries after her car hit a fallen tree on the A671 near Portfield Bar shortly before 7.30pm on Christmas Eve.

Norweb say they are working flat out to restore electricity supplies to customers still affected by power cuts.

Many people are facing their third day without power.

Priority is being given to repairs which can benefit the most customers and to people who have been without a supply for the longest.

More than 10,000 calls have been made to the emergency number 0845 0554321. Norweb are asking people to be patient when trying to get through.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.