Eleanor leaves a trail of chaos and power cuts

Much of UK clearing up after being battered by strong winds and heavy rain

The UK and Ireland have been left counting the cost of Storm Eleanor after winds tore a destructive trail across the country.

Heavy rain and ruinous gusts of up to 100mph swept across the country overnight on Tuesday and into yesterday evening.

Falling trees caused injuries in several parts of the country when they fell on moving cars, while a body was recovered from the sea near Splash Point in Seaford, East Sussex, yesterday morning, though it is unclear whether the death was related to the storm.

As the storm bore down on the UK and Ireland, tens of thousands of homes and businesses suffered power outages.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, which provides power to 3.8 million people across northern Scotland and parts of central England, said it had restored supply to 18,000 homes since midnight.

The distributor added that 700 households were without power for more than six hours and there had been 37 high-voltage faults.

A yellow warning of wind was extended for all of England and Wales, most of Northern Ireland and the Scottish Borders until 7pm last night after an amber warning was put in place for the early hours.

The Met Office previously said gusts of 100mph were recorded at Great Dun Fell in Cumbria at 1am, while wind speeds reached 90mph at Orlock Head in Northern Ireland on Tuesday evening.

Picture: Getty Images. Huge waves generated by Storm Eleanor break at the seaside at Portreath, Cornwall.