Man injured by falling tree in London as wind and rain bring delays and disruptions

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Rail passengers had a narrow escape after their train struck a tree that had fallen on to a line near Lincoln.

The Lincoln to Nottingham hit the tree shortly before 9am on Sunday, Network Rail said.

A spokesperson for Network Rail said “two window shields were broken” at the front of the train when the accident occurred just outside Lincoln.

Winds and floods cause travel disruption for second day Read more

“Passengers still on the train will be transferred to another train this morning. None of the passengers were injured and while the driver suffered shock they did not sustain any injuries,” they said.

Network Rail said rail lines that closed on Saturday in southern Scotland and the north of England because of heavy rainfall were open again on Sunday.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Flooding between Carlisle and Lockerbie caused the closure of the line on Saturday. Photograph: Network Rail Scotland/PA

“We still have a weather warning but today it is for between 15 to 30mm of rain, whilst on Saturday some of our lines were experiencing up to 100mm,” the Network Rail spokesperson added.

High winds and driving rain felled a number of trees in London and Norwich over the weekend. The most serious incident occurred in Greyhound Lane in Streatham, south London, when a man, thought to be in his 50s, was hit by a falling tree. A Met police spokesperson said the man had suffered potentially life-threatening injuries.

Police were also called out to Barnet in north London, where scaffolding collapsed in strong winds. No one was injured in the incident and contractors were on the site to seal off and secure the area.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A cyclist and cars try to get around a fallen tree in west London. Photograph: Airpix/Rex/Shutterstock

The Met Office’s chief meteorologist warned that trees were likely to be felled in summer because “with trees in full leaf they are more vulnerable to being brought down by strong winds”.

In terms of rainfall, some of the heaviest downpours were in Cumbria, where more than 70mm of rain fell on Saturday.

The Met Office said Spadeadam in Cumbria was the wettest part of the UK on Saturday, receiving 71.4mm of rain.

Two weather warnings remain in force for Cumbria and Lancashire, and another covering southern Scotland and northern England, which will be in place until 6pm on Sunday.

Metereologist Helen Roberts said: “It does look like remaining unsettled and changeable right through most of the next seven days.”

She said strong winds on Saturday would abate over Sunday but rain and heavy showers were still possible.

The high winds caused ferry passengers to be kept on a ship in the Channel for three and a half hours on Saturday before their vessel was allowed to dock in Dover.

One passenger, Stephen Deadman from Nottingham, said: “We should have arrived in Dover 11.15am local time but we got off the boat at 4pm. It was a quick journey across the Channel but we stopped four miles from Dover.”

He praised the port authorities and the crew on the boat for getting him and his family into Dover.

“I’ve no particular problem with the authorities. The wind was very bad and the captains of the ferry and tugboats did a great job in difficult conditions,” he added.

Flooded tracks on Saturday forced train operators to cancel rail services between Cumbria and Scotland. Passengers on five trains were trapped for a time during the temporary closure of the west coast mainline.