Man feared dead after storm hits UK

A man is feared to have died as Britain was battered by Storm Katie which packed winds of more than 160kph.

Britons heading home from the long Easter break were faced travel chaos as planes were diverted, trains delayed, and heavy rainfall left roads treacherous.

Police launched a search for a man whose kayak capsized yesterday in the River Wey in Surrey, which the Environment Agency on Sunday night warned was at risk of flooding.

It comes after air passengers were left sick and in tears as their planes were hit with severe winds.

Dan Prance, aged 27, from south London, branded his trip back from Budapest the “worst flight of my life” and said passengers were so relieved when they finally touched down that many burst into tears.

“When we approached into Gatwick from Budapest the plane was dropping suddenly and swinging left to right,” he said.

“You could see from the windows there was a massive storm happening outside, the wind and rain was smashing against the glass.

“We got closer to the ground at Gatwick until the captain suddenly aborted the landing and we went shooting back up into the sky to attempt again.

“The captain came on the PA system and explained that the winds were way too strong for this kind of plane to land and he had to abort the landing at the last moment for safety. It was absolutely terrifying.”

Mr Prance said the plane circled for “a further bumpy hour” as air traffic control tried to find space at Stansted for them. They were eventually diverted to Birmingham.

More than 100 flights in and out of Gatwick and Heathrow were cancelled or diverted because of the bad weather.

Giulia Cortigiano, 28, an office manager whose flight from Bangkok only touched down at Gatwick on the second attempt, said: “People were panicking, somebody was sick. You are sitting there, panicking, and when you hear someone be sick you just think ‘Oh my God’.”

Around 100,000 homes were hit by power cuts, while railway passengers returning home after the long Easter weekend endured delays.

Cranes collapsed, trees were blown over and trampolines upended as Storm Katie swept over Britain.

The Environment Agency issued 131 flood alerts and 24 flood warnings, mainly in the Midlands and south of England.

Southern Electric Power Distribution said more than 80,000 homes across the south of England had power cuts, although electricity has been returned to around half of them.

UK Power Network said 19,000 of its households were left without power.