Yorkshire back on storm alert after Malik brings death

THE Yorkshire region was buffeted by two consecutive storms which swept across the nation and claimed the lives of two people over the weekend.

Storm Malik claimed the lives of a nine-year-old boy and a 60-year-old woman who were killed when trees were torn down in Staffordshire and Aberdeen on Saturday.

In Yorkshire, a man narrowly escaped serious injury when his van was crushed by a tree in Apperley Bridge, near Bradford, while he was getting changed in the back of the vehicle.

Richard Nutter, who escaped with cuts and bruises, told the BBC: “I am a very lucky man. I was sitting in between the two back seats, just crouching down and it pushed me further down.

“I lay on the floor and my friend pulled me out the back of the van.”

Gale-force winds left 80,000 homes in Northumberland and County Durham without power and 16,000 customers were yesterday still without electricity.

Northern Powergrid director Paul Glendinning said: “We successfully restored supplies to more than 60,000 customers but given the amount of work and the continuing high winds, it is likely that a relatively small proportion of our customers will remain without power into Monday.”

There was further misery last night as Storm Corrie was due to bring winds of up to 80mph to the north of England.

The Met Office issued another yellow warning for the whole of Yorkshire early yesterday and the storm is expected to continue throughout this morning, before eventually giving way to slightly calmer weather.

Yorkshire’s rail services were also disrupted yesterday by the continuing bad weather. A tree blocking the line between Doncaster and Goole meant a number of Sunday services were delayed, cancelled or diverted.