By KUNA
London : Britain was bracing itself for a second day of storms Tuesday.
As householders cleared up the floods and damage caused by yesterday’s gales, forecasters predicted more of the same.
The London Weather Centre issued a severe gale warning for much of Britain tonight until tomorrow afternoon.
The storms are expected to strike further north than yesterday, with further disruption to transport and power supplies possible.
Forecasters said there will be more high winds, this time across Northern Ireland, southern Scotland, northern England, and North Wales, with gusts of more than 70 miles-per-hour expected.
There will also be gales then in the south and south-west of the country, they added.
Early this morning, the UK Environment Agency had one severe flood warning for the south coast of England.
There were also seven flood warnings and 68 less urgent flood watches in place for England and Wales.
The south-west of England and south Wales bore the brunt of winds gusting at up to 95 miles-per-hour that roared in from the Atlantic in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Travellers by sea, air, rail, and road faced delays and thousands of homes lost electricity as trees crashed down on power lines.
Insurers said the cost of such a storm, the strongest of the winter in southern Britain, could run into hundreds of millions of pounds.
Rescuers helped a Swedish tanker with 13 crew on board which got into difficulties off the Isle of Wight, southern England, as the storms whipped up the waters.
The 11,000-tonne vessel “Astral” was heading for the Esso oil refinery in Fawley, southern England, with a cargo of gas oil when it ran into trouble early yesterday morning.
Two Coastguard tugs and a lifeboat, with six crew aboard, were dispatched in force 11 winds to help.
In many areas, fallen trees caused blockages on roads and railway lines.
Speed restrictions were imposed on trains because of the high winds and heavy rain.
British Airways had to cancel a number of short-haul flights at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports after air traffic control chiefs imposed flow controls on take-offs and landings. Some inbound flights to Gatwick had to divert to other airports.
The Port of Dover, in southern England, was closed to all shipping movements as gales buffeted the coast.
Even British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Downing Street appointments were caught up in yesterday’s travel chaos.
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico was forced to cancel a visit to No 10 after his flight was scrapped because of the bad weather.
Downing Street officials said the two leaders spoke by telephone instead, and will meet later this week at an EU summit in Brussels.