Storm Eunice wind damage causes fallen tree in Newport

The city was within a Met Office red weather warning area for high winds and dangerous conditions, with gusts of up to 90mph expected.

James Peters was at home with his partner, Mariana, watching the storm arrive.

"About 10am, my partner and I were sat having a cup of coffee and watching our next door neighbours' rather tall tree swaying in the ever-increasing wind," he said.

"Just as I said to Mariana 'I think the wind is going to take that down', it started to lean even more – thankfully sideways and not towards the houses or the South Wales main railway line that runs past the bottom of our gardens."

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As they watched on, the tree toppled and came down.

"All of a sudden it went over, and the roots of the tree – which ran under the large shed next to it – lifted the shed and deposited it on the wall between our gardens, where it knocked down part of the wall and came to rest.

"Thankfully, the tree missed all other property and the railway, and no one was hurt, but it is now lying across, I believe, almost three gardens."

Newport was near deserted today as many people decided to stay home and wait out the stormy conditions.

Schools across the city were closed for the day, and many public services postponed.

There was damage elsewhere in Newport, too. In Pill and Clytha Square, trees came down into children's playgrounds.

In Christchurch Road, three homes were evacuated after winds damaged their roofs and smashed their windows, and in Caerleon Road a van owner's vehicle was pelted with falling bricks.

Across the wider Gwent area, Storm Eunice brought power cuts and played havoc with transport on Friday, closing the Severn bridges and causing a number of incidents on the roads.

Two men were hospitalised after a crash on the A468 in Caerphilly, and elsewhere in South Wales there were reports of lorries overturning on the motorway.