Irishman among 4 dead as hurricane batters Britain

An Irishman living in London was among four people killed as hurricane-force winds battered England, leaving a trail of destruction and disruption.

“Loving husband” and father of three Donal Drohan, 51, originally from Waterford, died after his car was hit by a tree at the bridge over the River Colne in Watford.

Bethany ‘Gia’ Freeman, a 17-year-old schoolgirl, was crushed as a 10m tree fell on the static home where she was sleeping in Hever, near Edenbridge, Kent, at 7.18am.

A man in his 40s and a woman also died, trapped under rubble when an uprooted tree caused a gas blast in Hounslow, west London.

During yesterday morning, winds of up to 160km/h swept through the south, east and Midlands of England after first hitting land in the early hours.

The storm, dubbed St Jude after the patron of lost causes, also caused transport disruption on road, rail, air and sea, and power cuts for hundreds of thousands of homes.

Hitting the mainland in the early hours, it left Bethany crushed as a tree fell on the caravans she and her family were living in while renovation work was taking place at their home at Edenbridge in Kent.

Also known as ‘Gia’, she was a was a “universally respected” sixth-form pupil at Tunbridge Wells Grammar School who “had everything to look forward to”, the school’s website said.

There were tragic scenes as her driving instructor arrived at her home in Lydens Lane to pick her up without knowing she had died.

Mr Drohan, from Harrow, west London, was “in the wrong place at the wrong time” when his car was struck by a falling tree at Lower High St, Watford.

The Harrow council worker’s family said: “He was the best husband and father anyone could wish for. You couldn’t find anyone who had a bad word to say about him.”

In Hounslow, three houses were destroyed and two damaged by an explosion, thought to have been caused by a ruptured gas main.

Officers were called to Bath Rd at around 7.30am and at 12pm they found the male victim’s body at number 47 amid “scenes of devastation”.

An hour and a half later, a woman was found dead at the same property.

Later in the day, the Met Office lifted its amber warning as the heart of the storm blew away from Norfolk and over the North Sea to continental Europe.

The Energy Networks Association said 459,000 homes which suffered power cuts across England have had energy restored, but 166,000 were still disconnected.

The port of Dover in Kent had to be shut, train and Tube services were disrupted, more than 130 flights at Heathrow Airport were cancelled, and many roads were impassable due to fallen trees.

Experts said that while the gales were relatively weak compared with the Great Storm of 1987, it had shown how much weather predictions have improved in 26 years.