24/12/2013 BBC London News

struggled with an Australian barrage all tour. Let's hope this guy has a

lot more success with conditions as the snow falls quite

heavily. We are expecting some Good evening. The capital's

transport network has been severely disrupted after London was battered

by gale force storms overnight. Flights have also been affected.

Power outages at Gatwick airport have meant many departures have been

delayed and some flights cancelled. The fire brigade dealt with 800

calls overnight. This was in Battersea. Some rivers burst their

banks in south`east London. In Surrey the fire brigade says a train

ran into a landslide at slow speed and more than 200 people were

evacuated. The departure board this morning at Victoria station were

just a line of cancellations. Including the Gatwick express. That

meant Rob Carroll 's journey from Berlin still not over even after 15

hours which had seen his flight diverted to Liverpool. It was an

adventure at first. The family from Austria were hoping to fly back home

after a short break in London. But problems en route to Gatwick and it

was touch and go. The lady said we should change to a train from

platforms 16 and then to other us. So we hope we do not have to stay

for Christmas on the platform! Some people were able to share a cab to

Gatwick bugbear of the atmosphere was fraught. But flight

cancellations because of a flood from a nearby river cutting the

power supply. Tonight the Middleton family from Reigate are moving into

a hotel after their house was flooded in the overnight storm. It

could not come at a worse time. You feel for the kids. The Middleton 's

are making the best of the situation but for some people this will be a

Christmas Eve to forget. There are still problems on the

trains. Here are some of the services still affected. There's

disruption on First Capital Connect on trains out of Kings Cross to

Peterborough, Cambridge and Welwyn Garden City ` and also between

Moorgate and Finsbury Park. There's no Gatwick Express due to adverse

weather conditions and a landslip. There's no Southern service between

East Croydon and Gatwick Airport either.

Finally, on South West Trains, there's disruption on many services,

especially in Surrey. In other news, thousands of civilian

police staff in London ` including 999 call handlers ` are to go on

strike on New Year's Eve. The PCS union says members voted three to

one for strike action. With the latest, let's speak to Warren

Nettleford at Scotland Yard. What impact is the strike likely to have?

The police here do not seem to think it will have any impact despite the

fact that these support staff going on strike mean that they will not be

working on one of the busiest nights of the year. These include staff

working in custody suite as well as 999 call handlers. It is all to do

with the proposed 1% pay increase. They want a bigger pay increase. The

Metropolitan police say they cannot increase wages any more due to a pay

cut introduced by central government. As a result police are

having to get staff to fill those jobs and they say they are fully

trained and will be able to handle the calls. Thousands of people will

be celebrating on New Year's Eve but they say there are confident it will

be fine. The former football club owner, Ron

Noades, has died at the age of 76. Ron Noades bought Crystal Palace in

1981 and spent 17 years at Selhurst Park, before buying Brentford. He

lost his battle with lung cancer this morning. Let's get an update on

the weather with Sara Thornton. Good evening. We have some showers this

evening and overnight but few and far between. It is a cold start to

Christmas Day. There could be some wintry showers but many places will

stay dry if chilly. Boxing Day looks like the best day of this week. Wet

and windy again for Friday. Do try to have a good day tomorrow. That's

it from us - we are back on Boxing Day at One o'clock. Merry Christmas.

Hello. The weather has been a little kinder today to travellers and

last-minute Christmas shoppers across England and Wales. Not as bad

as we feared across Northern Ireland. We have