Storm Eleanor - as it happened: UK counts cost of violent wind and rain as trees uprooted and harbour wall destroyed
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The worst effects of Storm Eleanor have passed over the UK, but rain and high wind left a trail of destruction.
Violent gusts of up to 100mph swept across the country, leaving thousands of homes without power and injuring motorists.
Trees were felled and a harbour wall collapsed in Cornwall.
The Met Office said winds would return to their seasonal norm on Wednesday night and Thursday, but warned a band of rain would sweep in from the south-west overnight.
Storm Eleanor: in pictures
Show all 25A yellow warning of wind was extended for all of England and Wales, most of Northern Ireland and the Scottish Borders until 7pm on Wednesday after an amber warning was put in place for the early hours.
As the storm bore down on the UK and Ireland, tens of thousands of homes and businesses suffered power outages.
They included 55,000 properties in the Republic and 20,000 customers in Northern Ireland.
Around 2,500 properties between Cornwall and the Midlands were also blighted by power outages, largely due to flying debris, Western Power Distribution said.
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There were roughly 60 incidents reported as Storm Eleanor barrelled across the network overnight, with Mid-Devon experiencing the worst damage, according to a spokeswoman.
Several major bridges were closed due to high winds and there were numerous reports of fallen trees blocking roads including the M25.
Roads became perilous in some areas, with one man injured in Hensol, Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales, when a tree fell on his car, the Welsh Ambulance Service said.
In England, another falling tree injured two men overnight when it crashed into their car, Hampshire Police said.
Officers were called to Lyndhurst Road in the New Forest at around 3.20am, and both occupants of the Ford Focus were taken to hospital by ambulance.
Winds from the storm were particularly powerful in coastal areas, including in Cornwall, where a tide-battered harbour wall in Portreath partially collapsed on Wednesday morning.
Cornwall Police said they were called at around 5.50am due to a very high tide and water coming on to the road.
Closer to shore, cracks began to form in the harbour wall and water poured through it, while some steps collapsed.
A spokeswoman for Cornwall Police said a 25ft to 30ft section was later knocked down further along the wall, but added there was no risk to anybody.
Overturned vehicles forced closures on the A1M near Hatfield in Hertfordshire, the M6 near Lancaster and M5 near Worcester, where a recovery operation was required to clear up the contents of a lorry left spilled on the road.
An object in overhead lines between London Paddington and Hayes reduced the number of trains leaving the major hub, while power outages halted rail services between Letchworth Garden City and Cambridge.
The Met Office said gusts of 100mph were recorded at Great Dun Fell in Cumbria at 1am, while wind speeds reached 90mph at Orlock Head in Northern Ireland on Tuesday evening.
Gusts up to 89mph were recorded on the Isle of Wight at around midnight, while in Northolt, north-west London, speeds of up to 73mph were detected and 77mph gusts were recorded in High Bradfield, South Yorkshire.
Meteorologist Becky Mitchell said the risk of more "violent storm-force gusts" had lessened, although wind speeds of between 70mph and 80mph could hit some parts.
"Storm Eleanor has swept through and the eye is now crossing the North Sea, although there will continue to be strong gusts through the day," she said.
"We have seen some heavy showers push through across the south of the UK along with hail, loud thunder and lightning, which has woken people up.
"It is possible there will be quite widespread disruption this morning and it is worth checking before you travel."
The Severn River Crossing and the Orwell Bridge in Suffolk were closed in the early hours due to strong winds.
Highways England said there was a possibility that the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge would have to close and the east tunnel of the Dartford Crossing had been shut in case it had to take diverted traffic.
Police forces in Cumbria, Suffolk, Norfolk and Humberside were among those to issue warnings that downed trees had blocked routes.
Isle of Man Police said infrastructure staff worked through the night to remove trees from the roads, while there were multiple reports of roofs coming off buildings, flooding and mud debris.
As well as the problems posed by high winds, the Environment Agency has issued 39 flood warnings and 109 flood alerts, with coastal areas under threat from a combination of a high tide and large waves.
The Thames Barrier was being closed to protect London from swelling tides.
In Cheshire the RSPCA was called to a road in Poynton where a swan had taken up residence in a puddle, blocking traffic
PA
The Met Office warns it will remain windy today across parts of Britain.
The Thames Flood barrier will close at 10.15 am today, with the organisation saying there is "some uncertainty" over whether closure is needed. Better safe than sorry is the general idea. It will be the 180th time the barrier has closed to protect London from flooding.
A staff member at The Independent captured these images of an Audi A4 crushed by falling debris from a roof on York Street in Marylebone, London.
Part of the York Street was sealed off after the slab of concrete crushed the vehicle.
This image shows the height from which the top of the concrete roof smashed into the Audi A4.
A Twitter user in Northern Ireland has captured some of the fall out from Storm Eleanor in Londonderry. Both trees and brick walls appear to have been blown over.
A sizeable chunk of a factory roof at one of Northern Ireland's major businesses has been ripped off by Storm Eleanor.
The mammoth mobile building at Harland and Wolff (H&W) Heavy Industries in east Belfast was not in use at the time.
It was intended for painting projects, a spokesman for the company said.
H&W was once one of the world's leading shipbuilders - it built the Titanic - and currently focuses on offshore energy and steel fabrication.
The spokesman said the damage affected the outer skin of the roof.
A Highway Maintenance van begins the clear up after waves crashed over the sea wall in Aberystwyth, Wales.
Photo credit: Aaron Chown/PA
In France, the national electricity provider says a violent windstorm has left some 200,000 households without electricity across the country, including 30,000 in the Paris region.
The windstorm battered northern France Wednesday with winds reaching over 140 kilometers per hour. Photos of destroyed cars, collapsed scaffolding and uprooted trees have appeared across social media.
Some 2,000 agents have been deployed to reconnect the energy supplies in the 49 French departments that have been placed on high alert.
Winds of up to 117 km/h also battered Paris' biggest airport Charles de Gaulle. Paris' airport authority said that flights have been disrupted with slight delays stemming from precautions being taken to safely get travelers into aircraft.
The Met Office has updated its yellow weather warning:
"Strong winds will continue through much of today. Storm Eleanor is now over the North Sea and although winds are not expected to be as strong as during Tuesday evening and last night, it has left a swath of strong winds in its wake.
"Some delays to road, rail, air and ferry transport are expected with some journeys taking longer. Delays for high-sided vehicles on exposed routes and bridges are also possible, and there is also the potential for some short term loss of power supplies."
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