Northamptonshire storm: Fire crews called to more than 130 incidents

The fire service in Northamptonshire said it received more than 130 calls for help as a result of the storm that hit the county on Sunday.

There were reports of a "tornado" in the county as the south and east of England was battered by heavy rain and gusts of up to 80mph (129km/h).

Some roads were closed and wind brought down trees and damaged buildings.

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue said it worked with the police to "maximise response across both services".

Geoff Lewis from Kettering described the supposed tornado, just before 10:00 GMT as "five minutes of mayhem".

"It started raining very heavy and then the wind got up, and within a matter of minutes we had next door's basketball hoop and stand come flying past the cars outside our house," he said.

"Several houses have lost tiles off their roofs, our fence was blown down [and] our greenhouse was lifted up and moved across the garden."

Weatherquest meteorologist Dan Holley said the damage was more likely to have been caused by straight-line winds, where high-momentum air was brought down to the surface, but did not rotate.

"Naturally a lot of people are calling this a tornado because of the sudden onslaught of strong winds; however, tornadoes are small in size, less than 3km [wide] usually," he said.

"The width of this damage path is around 20-30km and so it is much more likely most people experienced what's called straight-line winds - but there may have been a couple of small tornadoes mixed within this zone, too."

Trains on the West Coast Mainline were also suspended after damage to overhead electrical wires between Rugby and Milton Keynes.

Services had initially been able to resume using a diversion route via Northampton, but Network Rail said further damage on this route caused by fallen trees county had prevented trains running in and out of Euston again.

It said services had resumed but it was "truly sorry" for the "rough day" passengers had.

Safety and engineering director Martin Frobisher said engineering teams had "battled through the night to repair the storm damage, all of which has been successfully completed" and services had resumed this morning.

He added there would be some "residual delays and cancellations".

Train operator Avanti West Coast said tickets dated for 31 October would be valid for travel on Monday.

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