Severe winds and torrential rain wreak havoc in Breightmet (From This Is Lancashire)

Severe winds and torrential rain wreak havoc in Breightmet

9:13am Friday 17th August 2012 in News

FEROCIOUS gusts of wind felled trees, damaged homes and cars and ripped down fences as it blew through Bolton.

Bolton Council officers were called to about 20 incidents on Wednesday, with Breightmet being particularly badly affected.

The severe weather, which struck at about 4pm, damaged a car on Blenheim Road, ripped out fence panels and caused roof tiles to fall to the ground.

It swept through the area shortly after 4.30pm on Wednesday.

Judith Ainsworth, her husband Philip, and son Anthony, had just returned home from a shopping trip when they were caught up in the bad weather.

The wind snapped branches off a Bolton Council -owned sycamore tree, causing damage to their Nissan Almera car.

Mrs Ainsworth, of Blenheim Road, said: “We heard a few thuds on the roof and at the front of the car. We looked out of the front of the house and saw the branches on the car.”

The branches caused the brake lights to fail, damaged paint work and dented the roof of the car.

Decribing the torrential downpour, Philip Robinson, of Kingsfold Close, Breightmet, said: “It was like being in a cloud, I couldn’t see out of the window. A falling branch just missed my Ford Fiesta car.”

And pensioner Renee Davies, of Blenheim Road, fears she will have to pay up to £300 to replace 10 fence panels.

She said: “I was out when it happened. My granddaughter, Stacey Hatter, said it was frightening. A tree by her house was bending and touching the grass.”

Fallen branches were strewn across gardens in Breightmet and many homes lost roof tiles.

A Bolton Council spokesman said: “We responded to about 20 incidents in relation to three fallen trees and a number of large branches which had been torn from trees by localised high winds, primarily in the Blenheim Road area although there were a few in other parts of the borough. The teams were out for about four hours carrying out urgent clearance and safety work.”

A spokesman for the Met Office confirmed there was “a squall line of weather, which is torrential rain and high gusts of winds” at about 3pm on Wednesday.