Hundreds of call-outs to deal with Ciara chaos

999 CREWS HELP AT FALLEN TREES, DEBRIS ON ROADS

EMERGENCY services workers and council staff in the county were called to hundreds of incidents caused by Storm Ciara.

Police said they had received 218 weather-related calls in 24 hours.

Leicestershire County Council said its officers were alerted to 163 incidents relating to the very strong winds on Sunday and the two days since.

Officials at the city council said they had received 77 calls to reports of wind damage to buildings, hoardings, fences and trees and blocked road gullies.

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service received 65 calls on Sunday.

A police spokeswoman said: “Over a 24-hour period on Sunday, February 9 we have had about 218 weather-related calls.

“Calls mainly related to debris on the road, obstructing the public and/or vehicles.”

A county council spokesman said: “The number of incidents reported to us is 163.

“The majority of these were unsafe trees – fallen, leaning, branches in the road and the like – but there were a few flood calls, too.”

All county tips were closed on Sunday but open as normal since.

A city council spokesman said: “Our toppled on to a house in Holmefield Lane, in Rothley

Calls mainly related to debris on the road, obstructing the public and/or vehicles

Police spokeswoman

CRASH: A tree

building control team were called out to 11 cases of storm damage to buildings.

“This includes the two collapsed gables that you know about, a collapsed chimney that caused damage to two houses in Fosse Road North and the partial collapse of an already fire-damaged building in Wenlock Way.

“The rest involved tiles blowing off roofs and damage to fencing, walls and hoardings. “We had 51 reports of fallen or damaged trees. So far, we’ve had to remove 38 trees due to the level of damage.

“We also had 15 reports of blocked road gullies, which were cleared.” A fire service spokeswoman said: “We attended 35 weather-related incidents but also received a further 30 calls relating to fallen trees, which were passed to the police.”

East Midlands Airport had three flights cancelled on Sunday and others were delayed.

Flights were suspended for an hour on Monday when the runway had to be cleared of snow. Airport bosses have advised passengers to check with airlines before they travel.