Storm Lilian: Strong winds cause disruption in south Cumbria

The storm brought strong winds and heavy rain to Cumbria leading to disruption to travel and infrastructure on Friday morning.

Two flood warnings remain in place across Cumbria as well as several flood alerts including the coast at Duddon Estuary, the coast from St Bees Head to Haverigg and rivers Duddon, Crake and Mill Beck.

Across the North West, Network Rail response teams are working hard to remove fallen trees and high levels of surface water following a night of heavy wind and rain.Flooded line in Cumbria (Image: Network Rail) The Cumbrian Coast line was reported to be flooded in some areas and trains from Carlisle to Barrow have been disrupted.

Fallen trees and branches were reported all over Furness's roads by residents who were woken up by the sound of strong wind in the early hours of the day. 

Donna Milmine shared a photo of a 'big branch' on top of her two cars and a motorbike.

She said: "Woke us up at 5:50 this morning."

Tree fallen over due to storm (Image: Donna Milmine) Another reader, Ali Braithwaite, said: "It was 6.30am. A window was open upstairs and the bedroom doors started banging - it was awful."

Westmorland and Furness Council increased its resources and crews have been out on the network responding to reports of fallen trees and flooding.

Read our Storm Lilian live blog here.

One of their jobs included removing a large tree blocking the exit from Barrow Park Leisure Centre.

Abbry Road and Park Road in Barrow and the A590 at Lindale had post-storm debris cleared out by the council.

The storm's aftermath caused widespread damage bringing down overhead power lines as wind speeds hit more than 70mph in some areas.Tree down on Basterfield Gardens/Risedale Road (Image: Ashleigh Thorne) Using its automatic restoration systems, Electricity North West was able to restore power to close to 15,000 properties, with some in just under three minutes.

Engineers were dispatched and are now working to restore power to the remaining 3,000 properties across the North West.

Electricity North West incident manager Richard Moulton said: “Despite the very challenging conditions which saw strong winds and heavy rain hit the region, we’ve already been able to make some good progress.

“We were well prepared in advance and drafted in teams of engineers who were able to respond first thing this morning.

“Conditions are now starting to ease and teams are tackling faults that have been caused by trees and branches landing on overhead lines."