June 24, 2004

Gale force winds and rain caused chaos across parts of Britain today as an unseasonable storm felled trees, closed a major ferry port and caused a tennis wash-out at Wimbledon.

The freak conditions, brought on by a severe low pressure crossing the country just days after the summer solstice, left the south of England battered by winds gusting up to 80mph.

Resulting stormy seas left the Port of Dover shut for several hours and stranded hundreds of passengers on ferries which were forced to remain in the Channel.

In Brighton, huge waves and gusts of wind brought one of the final pieces of the historic West Pier - already been ravaged by two fires - crashing into the sea.

The weather also played havoc with the country's traditional sporting calendar, including a complete wash-out of play at Wimbledon for only the eighth time in the last 30 years.

People living in the west of England and Wales were the first to endure the wrath of the summer storm, with flooding in Dorset and Cornwall leading to road closures.

In Porthtowan, north Cornwall, dozens of people were temporarily evacuated from their homes after a landslip involving hundreds of tonnes of sand.

Meanwhile, in Wales, a girl aged 12 suffered a broken leg when she was hit by debris from the roof of a youth club damaged by wind in Blaenymaes, Swansea.

Later in the day the south coast became the focus of the high winds while the heavy rain moved north affecting Northern Ireland, northern England and Scotland.

Some of the highest winds were recorded off the Isle of Wight, where a gust reached 84mph at The Needles, while Ballypatrick Forest in Northern Ireland was the wettest, receiving 49mm of rain in 24 hours.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WEATHER/06/22/texas.storms.ap/index.html