Cargo ship being evacuated off England’s storm-hit southern coast

Waves battered the coast and strong winds and rain caused vehicle crashes and left some people stranded as rail networks ground to a halt and floodwater caused chaos.

Driving rain will fall on ground saturated from Storm Angus’ weekend assault which left communities underwater and rivers at bursting point.

Storm Angus has hit Ipswich with gusts of up to 55mph expected to batter the coast later this morning.

Local media reported the name of the ship as the Saga Sky.

Parked cars were submerged in water.

In Swanage, the fire service said there has been damage to the sea wall and advised people to avoid the area.

Fallen trees and debris are being cleared from roads and county council officials are warning of more problems across Devon, especially on minor roads.

A weather warning is now in place (until midnight tonight), for gusts of up to 50mph and heavy rain.

Southeastern Railway cancelled many trains before 10am and some early morning South West Trains services were also abandoned.

Devon spent Sunday pumping out flooded properties and roads, and warned many of those same areas are due to be hit by wet weather again.

A pilot project began last year, and Storm Angus marks the first storm of the second year of the project. A separate Amber warning will cover this aspect.

“It is the first storm of the season, coming quite late at this time in November, ” said Mr Partridge.

Flooding shut roads and the wind brought down power cables in Devon.

The eye of the storm has already moved out into the North Sea, leaving in its wake power cuts and floods.

A NEW weather warning for heavy rain has been issued for Dorset on Monday.

A yellow warning of rain in force over a broad area of the North East lifted at 6am along with a yellow warning of wind covering the Scottish Borders and much of Cumbria.

Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said the heaviest and most persistent rain will move north-eastwards throughout Monday night, with overall weather improvements not expected until later in the week.

Residents in Yorkshire and the Humber have also been warned to expect 40-50mph gusts, a Met Office spokesman said.

“Behind this most places will still see showers, some heavy but getting lighter during the day”.

“Environment Agency teams have been out working through the night and we are now preparing for further flooding as rain continues over the next couple of days”.