Storm alert: Cambridgeshire and the Fens wait for the impact of St Jude

Station Road, Lakenheath (Image: Archant)

There are major delays expected to Monday morning travel with all the main rail operators suspending services until 9am.

Lakenheath: a woman escaped with minor injuries after a tree fell on the car in which she was a passenger (Image: Archant)

Two trees came down near to the Cambridgeshire/Suffolk border yesterday with one tree falling down and blocking the A1065 near Barton Mills and another hitting a car in Station Road, Lakenheath.

A woman passenger in a silver Peugeot hit by a tree in Lakenheath suffered minor injuries and paramedics treated her.

Both roads were cleared relatively quickly.

Met Office advice in storms

The Met Office has issued advice to householders ahead of the powerful storm, which is set to hit East Anglia in the early hours of today.

Gales are the most common cause of damage and disruption in the UK and between 1962 and 1995, 184 deaths were caused by building failures resulting from wind.

The average cost of storm damage each year is at least £300m.

During the storm, the Met Office says:

? Stay indoors as much as possible.

? If you do go out, try not to walk or shelter close to buildings and trees.

? Keep away from the sheltered side of boundary walls and fences.

? Do not go outside to repair damage while the storm is in progress.

? If possible, enter and leave your house through doors in the sheltered side, closing them behind you.

? Open internal doors only as needed, and close them behind you.

? Take care when driving on exposed routes such as bridges, or high open roads, delay your journey or find alternative routes if possible.

? Slow down and be aware of side winds, particular care should be taken if you are towing or are a high sided vehicle.

? Do not drive unless your journey is absolutely necessary.

After the storm:

? Be careful not to touch any electrical/telephone cables that have been blown down or are still hanging.

? Do not walk too close to walls, buildings and trees as they could have been weakened by the storm.

? Make sure that any vulnerable neighbours or relatives are safe and help them make arrangements for any repairs to their property.

Managers at Greater Anglia said the decision to stop rush hour services was taken on Sunday afternoon after discussions with Network Rail bosses.

Weather permitting, a reduced service will operate from 9am with speed restrictions in place, however customers are likely to experience disruption to journeys throughout the day.

A spokesman for Greater Anglia said: “These plans are based on advice that high winds of up to 75mph are forecast across our region early on Monday morning. This presents a significant risk of falling trees/branches, damage to railway equipment and will severely limit our ability to safely and quickly respond to any incidents which may occur.

“We will be working with Network Rail throughout the night to ensure that the railway is open as soon as possible on Monday morning and that additional staff are deployed across the route.

“As soon as we are able we will run checks across all routes in order to ensure that services can run safely before we run any passenger services.”

Passengers with Greater Anglia tickets for today will be able to use them tomorrow.

In a statement, First Capital Connect, which runs services out of King’s Lynn, said: “In the interests of safety, Network Rail have advised us not to operate any trains on our network from midnight on Sunday until it is safe to do so, which is unlikely to be until after 9am on Monday morning. This measure will allow us to ensure that nothing is blocking the railway. Once trains resume, we will be operating a revised timetable with far fewer services and with extended journey times.”

Have you been affected by the storms? Email: john.elworthy@archant.co.uk.