Video: Boy injured by falling roof as gales wreak havoc in Yorkshire

The boy was hit by a roof blown off a garage and was rescued by firefighters from the debris in Roper Lane, Queensbury, near Bradford. He was taken to hospital by ambulance.

He is detained at Bradford Royal Infirmary but his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

Firefighters in West Yorkshire said they were called to a number of other weather-related incidents yesterday including two in which telegraph poles came down, setting fields on fire.

But although further blustery conditions are expected, today’s winds will not be as strong as they were yesterday, forecasters said.

Thousands were left without power as gusty weather caused damage to buildings and resulted in travel disruption around the UK.

In County Durham, a driver died when a tree hit a car on the A688 at Dunhouse Quarry, between Staindrop and Barnard Castle.

Durham Police said a passenger in the car was taken to hospital in Darlington with injuries which are not thought to be life threatening following the incident at about 3pm.

Steve Ellison, a forecaster at MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: “The winds have eased quite a bit overnight and haven’t been as strong as they were during the day yesterday.

“Today will be another really quite windy day across northern areas of England, central and southern Scotland and Northern Ireland, but it shouldn’t be as bad as yesterday.

“We’re looking at winds of just over 50mph, possibly reaching 60mph in the most exposed areas.”

He said there will be showers across much of the country, but the heaviest rain will be confined to north Scotland.

“There will be further heavy and persistent rain across parts of western Scotland and the Highlands.

“Later in the afternoon that will go into Northern Ireland and southern Scotland and then overnight into northern parts of England but it’s getting lighter as it moves south.”

Yesterday, high waves lashed coastal areas causing ferry companies to cancel scheduled departures, and more trees and branches fell on train tracks and roads.

Forecasters said the fastest recorded gust was 82mph at Capel Curig in north Wales.

However, Scotland saw the brunt of the bad weather with blustery showers continuing for much of the day.

The UK sees a storm of this strength around once a year, and the remnants of a hurricane reach Britain once every few years, MeteoGroup said.

The Met Office has warned people in Northern Ireland, parts of Scotland, north west and north east England as well as Yorkshire and Humber to take extra care today as a result of strong winds.

“The public should be aware of the continued risk of disruption to transport and of the possibility of further damage to trees and structures already in a weakened state,” it said on its website.

The Environment Agency yesterday issued several flood alerts for inland and coastal areas in Wales and the North East and North West.

A flood alert is in force for parts of the North Sea coast this morning, with Kilnsea in Yorkshire the main area at risk.

In County Durham, a roof was torn from a building by strong winds and landed on 15 parked vehicles.

The newly installed roof flew off a building under construction in Littleburn Industrial Estate, Langley Moor, and landed on the cars 10 feet away.

A spokeswoman for Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service said no one was injured in the incident.

CE Electric UK, which provides power in the north east of England, said it was working to restore the power supply to about 10,000 properties.

David Gill, head of customer services, said: “We have well-rehearsed emergency plans in place and I can reassure customers that all available engineers and linesmen are working to respond to the power cuts as quickly as possible.”

During the day, train speed restrictions were put in place on the East Coast Mainline and West Coast Mainline, with the speed in Lancashire and Cumbria reduced to 50mph.

A spokesman for Network Rail said there had been very little disruption to trains.

He said minor disruption occurred when branches, trees and other items blew on to lines including a holidaymaker’s tent which blew from a campsite on to the track. The camper, in Norfolk, has since been reunited with their tent, the spokesman said.

As huge waves crashed along the shoreline, ferry companies were forced to cancel some of their scheduled routes.

Brittany Ferries said high speed services from Portsmouth and Poole to Cherbourg, France, were stopped but normal speed ferries carried on as normal.

The UK’s elite cycle race also fell victim to the gales as the second stage of the Tour of Britain was cancelled for safety reasons due to high winds across yesterday’s competition route in Cumbria and Lancashire.

Riders instead participated in an exhibition lap around Kendal, Cumbria, in front of hundreds of spectators who braved the weather.

The race will reconvene this morning for the third stage of the race in Stoke.

Meanwhile, wildlife wardens said that the strong winds from the ocean are forcing seabirds away from their usual migration course.

Staff at Slimbridge Wetland Centre in Gloucestershire rescued a gannet and several Manx shearwaters after they arrived and were too exhausted to feed.

Katia is the second major hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season and was rated as category four on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale at its peak.

The scale rates hurricanes from one to five, with five being the strongest.