PEOPLE throughout the region are continuing to pick up the pieces after severe gales left a trail of damage at the weekend.

Emergency services and councils faced a race against time clearing roads and repairing battered buildings ahead of further bad weather forcecast for the region.

On Monday, a gable end blew out at a former council sheltered home in Willington, close to the headquarters of a warden service.

Two members of staff were working in offices at Dellside in Low Willington, where contractors are demolishing the rest of the building.

The gable end fell on to a porch but nobody was hurt.

Michael Laing, housing director for the Wear Valley District, said: "It was like a wind tunnel. Staff were in an adjacent building at the time and they have been moved out."

At Crook, the Hole in the Wall Riding School has cancelled lessons for the week after a new 60 x 30ft hayshed was tossed around in the wind and an arena wall collapsed.

Evelyn Vitty, from the centre, said: "The shed was thrown around like a box of matches. Part of it was lifted into the field next door.

"The first winds earlier on in the weekend twisted the girders and Sunday night's storm lifted the top completely off. It was unbelievable.

"Structural assessors are checking it to see if it all has to come down."

Gable ends collapsed at Ennerdale on Crook's Watergate Estate and in Railway Terrace, Stanley, Crook, chimneys fell through roofs at Brooklands and Proudfoot Drive.

In South Church a felt roof lifted off a garage at the Coach House and landed on a motor home parked next door.

Mr Laing said: "From the first call at 11pm on Friday we had staff out throughout the weekend.

"We took over 100 calls. They were magnificent."

Fallen trees, debris and flooding saw roads closed throughout the South West Durham area.

Weardale was hit by flooding in the upper regions of the River Wear causing the A689 between Eastgate and Coweshill to be closed after a foot and a half of water gushed over the road. Teesdale was also hit by flooding.

Two buses were stuck in Toronto, near Bishop Auckland, after pylons fell, blocking the road.

One witness said: "Cars were able to turn back but there was not enough room for the buses to turn around so they had to wait until the pylons were cleared.''

Chaos reigned throughout Friday night and into Sunday afternoon as many places were left without electricity from the small hours of Saturday morning.

Middleton-in-Teesdale's Co-op store used emergency generators so it could open. Freezer and refridgerated food at the store had to be thrown out.

One resident said: "It was terrifying up here. We had winds of up to 90 miles and hour and we could not even hear ourselves think.''

Landlord of The Fir Tree Inn, Lawrie Stewart said: "We were closed all day on Saturday. Nobody in the village could get hold of anybody to tell us what was happening and when we would get the electric back. All we could get were answering machines.''

Part of Crook, including Crook Police Station, was also left without power.

* Council bin collections restarted on Monday after stopping at the weekend because landfill sites were closed.

This meant that rounds started a day late and crews were working late in to the night to catch up.