are without power. several roads have been closed and public transport services have been affected. this was the scene at barnard castle in county durham this morning, where you can see the a66 it is closed in both directions between the a67 near bowes and the a685 near brough because of heavy snow in the area. also the m48 severn bridge is closed in both directions because of the wind speeds. storm bert could bring up to 30cm of snow today as wintry conditions sweep across the uk with a "hazardous mix of wet, windy and wintry conditions". let's show you where the alerts are in force.

the met office has dropped its amber alerts. but there are yellow alerts in place with wind, rain and snow warnings cover much of the uk. large parts of the country are still under this warning, this yellow warning. here you can see the path that storm bert has taken overnight and into today. storm bert will also bring extremely heavy rain to parts of wales and southwest england, with up to 150mm over high ground. let us start our coverage with this report from graham satchel. storm bert has been battering the country since first

thing this morning. this is lyme regis in dorset, the heavy winds gusting up to 70 mph. with warnings that trees may come down in some parts of the country. it's the snow and ice that are causing most problems so far. this is renfrewshire in the west of scotland, with drivers struggling on the road. there has been an amber weather warning in place for much of scotland and the north—east of england for heavy snow. it looks like a picture postcard in selkirk in the scottish borders, but authorities are saying that some rural areas could be cut off. gritters have been out since the early hours, with national highways describing some routes as treacherous. farmers have also been helping to clear the roads. these extremes do seem to be happening more frequently. but one thing is for sure, right across the country today, farmers are going to be out tending their livestock. travel has been widely affected with trains, and some flights,

cancelled or diverted. the advice for those thinking of travelling in the worst affected areas is clear. if you don't need to travel, don't travel at all. if you work this weekend, work from home, stay home. yeah, it is essential that you are not travelling in this weather, because it is causing disruptions. there has already been flooding in some parts of northern ireland. this is county donegal. there are warnings that heavy rain could cause serious disruption here, as the day goes on. graham satchell, bbc news. we have also heard that a man in his 60s has died in hampshire after a tree fell on his car and this is coming from storm bert. with more on this now i am joined by the bbc�*s simon jones hampshire police say they were called this morning to report that a tree had come down on a car on the a 3k southbound. the

police say that a man in his 60s who was driving a black mercedes was pronounced dead at the scene and his family has been informed. another car was also damaged but there were no injuries with the people who were inside that second vehicle. the police are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed what happened to come forward or anyone that might have dash cam footage because they were driving along the road at that time. in terms of the investigation, the police tell me that they are still looking into what caused the tree to come down. our weather presenters tell me that at that time of day just weather presenters tell me that at that time of dayjust before eight o'clock this morning the wind was probably blowing at about 45 mph which is normally not enough to bring a tree down. it is possible that the tree was damaged already so it did not require wins to be that strong to bring down that tree. that's all going to part of the investigation. that part of the 834 southbound was closed for several hours, there was reduced traffic along road. we

have just heard from a national highways that the road is now fully reopened and the tree and the vehicle has been removed from that stretch of carriage rate. butjust to confirm that a man in his 60s has died and that investigation is ongoing. let's show you some of the live pictures around the country. let's go to lyme regis which has been very blowing all morning. you can see there some people braving the elements but certainly the fishing boats that have been there have not been going out because of these wins. the winds have ranged at 67 mph were recorded on the isles of scilly, with gusts of “p isles of scilly, with gusts of up to 80 mph in wales and that has led to power lines coming down and the issue that there are around 3000 buildings and properties that don't have any power at the moment in england and also in wales. we have been looking at the map of the latest ones and there are

certainly some in devon. there are also some power cuts in cornell. here are some pictures from there. again, you can see the waves they are and this has been like this all morning. we were talking to a local resident there earlier this today and they were talking about how windy it is. again, this is leading to the problem of those lines coming down and the fact they have been cut. let's move to scotland, which of course had those amber alerts earlier for snow. this is the scene in edinburgh and we have seen all day up in the top left—hand corner of your screen, you can see some children are out and about. they have been enjoying this with their sledges but it has been causing a problem on the roads. the police are urging people not to travel unless absolutely necessary. and lothian buses has had to suspend all of its services around edinburgh and because of

the conditions that they say are not safe enough for them to run those buses at the moment. lothian buses, just to give you a sense of how big they are, are the largest municipal bus operator in the uk, they operate more than 700 buses operating in more than 70 roots. certainly an issue with the buses there. also, just want to mention the trains, scotrail has suspended journeys between aberdeen and inveraray, so the snow in scotland having an impact on the trains. trans— pennine express has cancelled services between 0xon home, lake district, penrith, north lakes and glasgow. so, again, the main line—up into scotland from england, known trains running on the trans— pennine express carlisle to edinburgh and glasgow. avanti west coast cancelled services north of preston. northern rail is warning of what they call significant disruption to services in the north—west and

cumbria tomorrow. notjust cumbria tomorrow. not just today. cumbria tomorrow. notjust today. the train company has cancelled 339 journeys across the weekend. also, transport for wales has a closed train lines between landed no and blah my ffestiniog, swansea and shrewsbury. at shrewsbury and wrexham general and in devon the line between exeter and oak 0kehampton has been closed. big problems with the train services across the country. storm bert first hit the republic of ireland, and i could show you some pictures from donegal where there has been serious flooding there. from storm bert. we know that around 60,000 homes in the republic of ireland are without power after the storm struck around 12,000 in that particular area of county donegal. it's completely flooded, as you can see. we move into northern

ireland now, where there has also been flooding. there is a drone shot of some of the flooding there. our reporter lindsay lima is in belfast and she updated us on the condition there. storm bert has caused some significant disruption across northern ireland. we currently have around 3500 homes without power and as i heard you mention there, we have some train lines out of operation because of flooding. now here in dundonald where i am, which is just on the outskirts of east belfast, we have some residents out of their home because their street has been flooded overnight, have around a row of around 12 houses, as you can see the operation going on behind me. most of those residents are stuck inside their homes. the mother of one man i spoke to this morning said her son had woken up and went down to see around 2 or 3ft of water in his home this morning. the fridge was floating around the kitchen and lots of dirty water around there, so they're trapped inside their houses at the moment. while the fire service try to pump the water away out of the street.

another resident i spoke to, she'd been lucky enough, she woke up just after seven to see the water encroaching on the street and slowly rising. she had left to go and get sandbags because, she says the street does flood quite often, but it doesn't actually encroach on homes that often. she said by the time she returned, that water had entered her house and her and her sister had been lucky enough to escape that flood. but it will take some time here. a lot of disruption for residents. 0ne local politician i spoke to said there is an inter—agency meeting taking place right now to discuss emergency accommodation and the response to the flooding for those affected, but i think it will be a few hours before this street is cleared. certainly we can see that water slowly receding, but really it's about 3 or 4 foot high at the moment, and that will be the case across a few areas of northern ireland this afternoon. so for those residents it's a wait and see situation. yeah, absolutely awful for those residents who have been flooded. i can't think of anything worse when water like that comes

into your home. also, we were mentioning the train lines also being affected in northern ireland and public transport there. yes, indeed, we saw some pictures this morning, some train lines a few feet high really, and customers are being told basically to go onto the translink website and double check before any journeys today because there is some disruption in places. and some of those pictures are quite shocking actually, which we will see on a report later on today, and 3 or 4ft high in some areas. but translink do advise to check before you travel today. wise advice there from lindsey in belfast. the other area that had an orange warning earlier and had snow was north yorkshire. news reporter 0livia richward filled me in on the situation in the north yorkshire town of pately bridge. it is absolutely freezing here and the slush is now ankle deep. well, people here in north yorkshire woke up to absolutely beautiful scenes.

there was loads of snow. i live about half an hour away and we had about 2.5in. it was fantastic but it very soon turned to rain. and of course that's caused a lot of problems here in pateley bridge. we're in a valley and all of the roads out of this village are very steep. so this morning there were cars sliding all over the place and struggling and having to abandon their vehicles to come in and out of the village. things are an improving picture, at least as far as the roads are concerned. but the problem now is that it's solid rain and there's loads of slush underfoot, so the roads are still hazardous because there's big piles of slush and snow collecting in places and bits of flooding across the north. there has been some disruption. you talked about the cancellations, delays and diversions that have been taking place at newcastle airport. i understand that planes are now landing there again and hopefully things will be getting back to normal. there's also been a football fixture called off in blackburn. they were due to play portsmouth. well, maybe the away fans will be pleased that fixture has been cancelled

and will be rearranged. also, you mentioned there have been power cuts. we think that there's about 1500 homes in western north yorkshire without power, and northern power grid are working as hard as they can to restore power. but conditions are very unpleasant and some roads are very inaccessible. the little side roads are still very inaccessible, but here in pateley bridge it is in terms of driving at least an improving picture, albeit not very nice to be standing out here at all. yeah, absolutely. 0livia, just give us a sense, because i know you set off with your crew from leeds this morning. what was it like as you travelled along some of those roads today? well, this morning it was extremely hazardous. i'm just getting out of my driveway. i skidded three times. however, as i said, as soon as the snow started turning to rain, it started melting. so it was an improving picture. but we drove here very, very carefully. the roads are passable even without a 4x4. it's just very unpleasant. i wouldn't go on anyjourneys

unless you absolutely have to. that's what i would say. but, you know, you can drive about. but really, unless you have to, i really wouldn't. it's unpleasant. it does seem behind you the locals are out and about where you are. well, they're very stoic here in the yorkshire dales. i've seen people in ski suits here today. and it'sjust, you know, it's got everything you need in the village. so it is people are coming here and going about their daily business. and as i said, it is an improving picture. what people are concerned about now is, is the heavy rain that's forecast because so far everything that was forecast has panned out exactly, unusually, as it was forecast. you know, the heavy snow then the heavy rain. we don't have any wind here yet. but we'll see how much rain falls and whether that leads to any flooding. yeah. the key question is, is there a nice yorkshire pub for you to head to with a fire that is going to warm you up? i very much hope so1

talking if those alerts, they have now risen to 100 across the uk. it have now risen to 100 across the uk. ., , have now risen to 100 across the uk. , ., ~ the uk. it has been a weekend when a lot _ the uk. it has been a weekend when a lot of— the uk. it has been a weekend when a lot of events _ the uk. it has been a weekend when a lot of events should i when a lot of events should have been taking place, things like christmas lights being turned on at fairs and i want to talk now to alan watson who was forced to cancel his local christmas fair in new milton it hampshire because of the bad weather forecast. hampshire because of the bad weatherforecast. thank hampshire because of the bad weather forecast. thank you very much forjoining us on bbc news, just explained what happened to you please. the pub in new milton _ happened to you please. the pub in new milton are _ happened to you please. the pub in new milton are generally - happened to you please. the pub in new milton are generally in . in new milton are generally in this weekend runs a christmas festival with about 80 stores, we have ennis entertainment from the stage, a parade, which is aboutjust under one mile long, all of that would have been happening this afternoon but unfortunately on tuesday when we heard the concerns about storm bert we made the unfortunate decision to cancel

the event. unfortunate decision to cancel the event-— the event. you took the decision _ the event. you took the decision on _ the event. you took the decision on tuesday - the event. you took the | decision on tuesdayjust the event. you took the i decision on tuesdayjust i supposed to be safe rather than sorry? supposed to be safe rather than sor ? ~ , ., ., supposed to be safe rather than sor 7~ ., j~:: ., sorry? when you have 80 gazebos in a hiuh sorry? when you have 80 gazebos in a high street _ sorry? when you have 80 gazebos in a high street and _ sorry? when you have 80 gazebos in a high street and you _ in a high street and you cannot, other than use weights, can't pin them to the ground, the risk was too great for the public. we generally get about 5000 to 7000 people attending an frost or hold as it was too dangerous. i an frost or hold as it was too dangemus-— an frost or hold as it was too dancerous. ., . ., ., dangerous. i do have an image, now ou dangerous. i do have an image, now you have — dangerous. i do have an image, now you have said _ dangerous. i do have an image, now you have said that, - dangerous. i do have an image, now you have said that, of- dangerous. i do have an image, now you have said that, of 80 l now you have said that, of 80 gazebos flying around we should not be a good idea. sad for the locals, are you going to try and rearrange it or it is basically a case of sally this year there won't be able to be anything ahead of christmas. sadly, ahead of christmas, there won't be but we have already got our thinking caps on and we are planning for something equally as good in may. something equally as good in ma . , , ., ., may. 0k, “ust give us an idea what — may. 0k, just give us an idea what are the _ may. 0k, just give us an idea what are the conditions - may. 0k, just give us an idea what are the conditions laid l what are the conditions laid with you generally in hampshire

at this morning as you look at your window there? if i at this morning as you look at your window there?— your window there? if i look out my window _ your window there? if i look out my window it's - your window there? if i look out my window it's not - your window there? if i look out my window it's not peak slime but i would have certainly seen some gazebos flying past. we have got real gusts, 40 to 50 miles and hours. ., ., ., hours. you have painted a wonderful— hours. you have painted a wonderful picture - hours. you have painted a wonderful picture for- hours. you have painted a wonderful picture for us. | hours. you have painted a - wonderful picture for us. thank you forjoining us and hopefully when you do get to put on the christmas fair in may in new hampshire it will be a success. thank you very much for your time. a success. thank you very much foryourtime. but a success. thank you very much for your time. but alan watson at their with a lovely image of gazebos flying around will stop let's take a look at some of the pictures with that we've the pictures wit