MORE than 3,300 homes across Gwent were left without power yesterday as Storm Ciara hammered the British Isles.

Driving rain and fierce gales brought down trees throughout the region, blocking roads and causing travel chaos.

In the early evening, a tree came crashing down on the M4 in Newport, near the westbound turn-off for Caerleon.

READ MORE: Storm Ciara – updates as the big clean-up begins across Gwent

Council workers and the emergency services arrived quickly and removed the tree, which had fallen across two lanes, causing long tailbacks and traffic delays. The effects of the storm were not limited to the roads, however.

At their peak, power cuts affected 3,300 homes in South East Wales. Western Power Distribution did not expect electricity to be restored to some homes in rural Monmouthshire until 3am today.

Power cuts affected nearly 100 homes in eastern Newport. Among the larger outages in Gwent affected 520 homes in northern Abergavenny, 512 in Usk, 320 in Chepstow, and 311 in Abersychan.

South Wales Argus:

High winds uprooted trees across Monmouthshire, Caerphilly, and Torfaen; while the picturesque Bigsweir Bridge – which crosses the River Wye near Tintern – was closed after a large tree came down just off the riverbank on the English side.

The M48 Severn Bridge was closed to all traffic in the early afternoon, amid concerns over what Highways England described as "extremely high winds".

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There were some delays to local rail services, but the bulk of intercity trains using the South Wales main line in the afternoon were cancelled outright, after a tree fell on the line between Reading and London Paddington.

Nearly all trains travelling between Paddington and Wales, in both directions, were cancelled as a result.

READ MORE: Storm Ciara – your photos after fallen trees wreak havoc across Gwent

There was also disruption to air travel, with Storm Ciara piling on the misery for many Welsh rugby fans, whose flights home from Dublin after the disappointing Six Nations loss to Ireland were either delayed or cancelled due the hazardous weather.

The Met Office had issued an amber-level weather warning for wind as Storm Ciara arrived, lasting from 8am until 9pm. In Newport, gusts reached 52 miles per hour in the afternoon, though in other parts of Wales the wind speeds were much higher, with gales of 93mph recorded in Aberdaron, a village in Gwynedd.