LUCKY ESCAPE FROM JOCELYN
4x4 driver flees flood on tree branch as more gales hit Britain
A MOTORIST had a lucky escape when his 4x4 was washed down a flooded stream as Storm Jocelyn weaked havoc yesterday.
Winds of up to 97mph swept Britain just two days after Storm Isha left two people dead and caused flooding.
The driver of the yellow pick-up had been trying to cross a ford when his vehicle was washed 164ft down a rainswollen stream in the Yorkshire Dales.
It is understood the gardener escaped by climbing through the rear window then clambering to safety along an overhanging tree branch at Bishopdale Beck, near Thoralby, North Yorkshire.
It came three weeks after three men died while trying to cross a swollen river in a 4×4 in Glaisdale on the North Yorkshire Moors.
Jocelyn’s strongest wind, of 97mph, was recorded in Capel Curig, North Wales. There were also winds of 77mph in Shap, Cumbria, with about 1,000 properties in the county left without electricity.
Scottish and Southern Electricity said they had to restore power supplies to nearly 4,500 customers.
The Dartford Crossing and M48 Severn bridges were closed as well as the A66 in County Durham.
A search continued for a woman reported to be in the sea on Tuesday evening at Porthcawl, South Wales.
Parts of York flooded with 19 flood warnings in place across England, and 25 in Scotland. There was widespread disruption to ferries, flights and trains.
Tributes were paid to “much loved” James Johnstone, 84, a passenger in a car which hit a fallen tree near his home in Grangemouth, Scotland.
Also on Sunday, a man in his 60s was killed in a crash involving two vans and a fallen tree in Limavady, Co Londonderry.
Cloud and rain will move north east today with brighter conditions tomorrow, but showers in the north.
The Met Office said: “As Jocelyn moves away, the weather won’t be as stormy but it remains unsettled.”
Long-term protections and preventions should be put in place before future freak weather events, MPs said.
Labour’s Pat McFadden called for a taskforce, saying: “Greater regularity and severity of extreme weather demands a response from Government.”
Weather extremes demand response from Govt PAT McFADDEN MP WANTS LONG-TERM AID