Storm Babet: Cars crushed by trees in County Durham

Winds of between 40 and 50mph battered the region on Friday (October 20) and the start of Saturday (October 21), as motorists were advised to only make necessary journeys. 

As part of Storm Babet, amber and yellow weather warnings were in place and several flood alerts were issued, as public transport, events and roads were severely impacted. 

Read more: LNER say 'do not travel' to North East train passengers

Elsewhere, damage to the South Shields Pier lighthouse saw the dome removed.

But in County Durham, the county council confirmed that it was called to over 20 tree-related incidents that had seen trees collapse on vehicles and on power lines, while it also revealed that it had distributed 130 sandbags. 

A tree on top of two vehicles (Image: DURHAM COUNTY COUNCIL)

The council also shared images of the work they had done, including images of the felled trees and the trees falling on top of cars. 

Yellow and amber weather warnings for wind and rain have been issued to the North East after Storm Babet hit the North East late on Wednesday evening.

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Other events in the North East have been cancelled and authorities are urging the public to take caution as the storm continues to cause winds of over 25mph.

A felled tree in County Durham (Image: DURHAM COUNTY COUNCIL)

Meanwhile, on Saturday morning, LNER posted online that they were advising passengers 'do not travel', given the conditions of the train lines. 

"LNERUpdate Severe weather is causing major disruption to train services. Many rail routes are suspended. Please do NOT travel today," the company said.

According to the Met Office forecast, the extreme weather is set to die down from 1pm on Saturday (October 21), where the likelihood of rain will fall from 50% to 10%.

Winds of up to 22mph will also fall to as low as 6mph by the end of the day.