AS the region braced itself for another stormy night, homeowners and local authorities were still counting the cost of the weekend's high winds.

Engineers in Northumberland were still working round the clock to restore water supplies to homes in Hexham.

And with highways engineers on standby last night, Durham County Council revealed that the damage caused to the county's roads had already passed the £100,000 mark.

Fallen trees, blocked roads and landslips have caused havoc on routes across the county and repairs required by the damage so far may take weeks to carry out.

Among the most serious incidents reported over the weekend when the storm first hit was an embankment slip next to the A689 west of Frosterley, which threatened to undermine footpaths by the side of the road, and culvert collapses on the B6277, near Middleton in Teesdale, and the C21 west of Rookhope, which opened up former mine working and left a gaping 8ft hole beneath the roadway.

Highways maintenance teams also had to deal with countless blocked roads, fallen wooden street light poles, street lighting power cuts and flooding.

Between Friday morning and Monday night, the county council's emergency hotline received more than 500 calls for assistance.

Chris Tunstall, the council's deputy chief executive for environment, said the authority had to call in extra resources and equipment, including tree specialists, to help deal with the sheer volume of repair work.

"We are still assessing the damage to our roads, bridges and street lighting, but we estimate the cost so far has already passed the £100,000 mark."

In North Yorkshire, detectives were hunting cowboy tradesmen cashing in on the storm damage.

One elderly resident of Wheldrake, near York, has already handed over money to a convincing roofer who said roof tiles needed replacing. He disappeared and no work has been carried out.

Detective Constable Ian Murray, of York CID, said: "The public would be best advised to deal only with reputable builders and to obtain quotations for any work undertaken."

Calls to council staff in one North-East city trebled in one day in the aftermath of the storm.

The centre, which deals with calls to repair council homes in Newcastle, dealt with 3,000 calls on Monday, treble the usual number.

In the first 30 minutes after the centre re-opened after the weekend at 9am on Monday, staff dealt with 463 calls for worried residents and, by noon, the number of inquiries had passed the 2,000 mark.

Last night, there was some hope for thousands of families left without water in Hexham.

Northumbrian Water said the task of repairing two damaged mains should be completed by midnight with water gradually restored over the next few days.

Everyone is expected to have their supplies restored by the weekend.

A spokeswoman said that apart from the physical repairs to the mains, there was a huge amount of work to be done including reservoir refilling and sanitation and quality checks on the water supplies.

Up to 10,000 homes were now estimated to be without water in the Hexham, Allendale and Slaley areas of the county and about 70 emergency tankers and water tanks have been set up.

A Northumbrian Water spokeswoman said: ''The water mains will be connected and back in place by tonight.

"That job would usually take four weeks and it's only taken two days with 60 people working around the clock."

A row of council-owned garages in Darlington are to be demolished after high winds ripped off the roofs.

Four residents of Deepdale Way, Red Hall, Darlington, awoke on Saturday to discover their cars had been badly damaged by falling debris.

Carol Franklin, whose Ford Mondeo looks likely to be a write-off, said: "The roof blew off the garages and we are the end garage, so we caught the worst of it.

"The windscreen of our car was smashed and there is a hole in the roof."

She said residents, who rent the garages from Darlington Borough Council, were angry that the authority had decided not to repair the damage.

A council spokeswoman said: "The garages are not structurally safe and it is not thought economically viable to repair them.

"A letter is going to the tenants tonight to discuss alternative proposals."