19/09/2014 BBC Points West

The West has been clearing tp today after thunderstorms battered

Homes were damaged by flash floods and lightning, while in Corsham

a train was stuck on the line for hours, as the waters rose around it.

The storm's intensity took lany by surprise.

Across the West, frequent bright flashes of lightning, some

incredibly caught on camera, from kingswood near Bristol to Corsham.

It took seconds to rip the roof off this house in Meltsham.

It's fortunate that no`one was inside the property at the time it

got hit by the suspected lightning strike at around 10.00pm last night.

It took seconds to rip the roof off this house in Meltsham.

It's fortunate that no`one was inside the property at the time it

got hit by the suspected lightning strike at around 10.00pm last night.

The couple who live here ard on holiday in Greece.

The next door neighbour got a big surprise.

It was a really loud bang, like a big gun going off and then we

walked back into our living room to find that it was smoking

in there and found a big hole in the wall and all the plugs had shot out

With the electrical storm c`me the downpours.

A month's rain pour in three hours. Wiltshire's

In a very short space of tile, during a two`hour duration of the

storm, we had about 240 calls to the service for assistance.

They didn't all require a responding appliance but they were

quickly assessede and resources were despatched to the most serious

One of the biggest challengds for the emergency services was

dealing with this train that got stuck in three feet

90 people were on board, heading from London to Swansea,

A couple of passengers came through the

carriage and said ` it's st`rting to look a bit wet out there.

About 20 minutes later I got up and had a look out.

By that time, the water was already up to the bottom of the

The passengers had to wait tp to five hours until the train was

Long after they had gone, though, the clean`up was still conthnuing.

At the Claremont residential home in Corsham, which cares for ne`rly 60

people, damage done to the cellar soon had knock`on effects.

The provisions that had been made to tackle the eventuality of flooding

in there, didn't kick in and then the whole system got overwhdlmed.

So we had to use bigger equipment to pump it out.

In one street, again in Corsham a garden shed was thrust

into the nearby brook and many residents lost thehr

After days of dry weather, this was a dramatic wake`up call.

A Gloucestershire couple who subjected five of their children to

appalling neglect have had their prison sentences extended

The children slept on dirty mattresses

Their parents ` who can't bd named ` were jailed in June but the

Today the Court of Appeal s`id both will now serve six years.

A builder from Bristol has pleaded guilty to defrauding dozens

Mark Jenkins from Downend took around ?1.5 million from customers

He used several names including Mark Killick,

The way the West is governed is to change ` that was the plddge

His message follows the No vote in Scotland which will now see

Some think a similar move in England could boost cities like Bristol

Scotland's flag flew a little limp in Bristol this morning.

Nearby, looking much better, was the Union Jack,

I'm pleased that the Union stayed in tact.

I understand the reason why Scotland was getting and is getting lore

money and more help, but I think we don't need to forget the English.

I'm really pleased that the Scottish people have decided to stay in

the kingdom but I think there'll be lots of things to unravel and there

is going to be enormous pressure on Westminster to start looking

The main parties promised all forms of devolution to Scotland to

We hope they'll also look at places like this city

The Prime Minister was quick off the mark.

We have heard the voice of Scotland and now the millions of voices

He pledged simultaneous change both sides of the border with

an end to Scottish MPs voting on matters that only concern England.

He backed growing calls to see cities given more power.

It is also important that wd have wider civic engagement

about how to improve govern`nce throughout our UK, including how to

That's music to the ears of Bristol's elected mayor,

I think we shall and I think all the political parties are getting it.

What it does, it galvanises them to think

I absolutely believe that the city regions are the pl`ces to

have the power in order to have much more joined`up thinking.

Almost everyone agrees that change is needed but deciding what

that change will be and delhvering it fast, will be much harder.

Rugby now and Gloucester had close game against Exeter

Gloucester scored three trids, including one from Johnny M`y

The final score ` Gloucestdr 2 , Exeter 25.

Now, if you're scared of sphders, I'm afraid I have some rathdr bad

According to experts at the University of Gloucestershire,

there will be more of them and they'll be getting biggdr.

It's because of the mild we`ther, meaning there's more food

That's it from us. We will be here throughout the weekend but now Ian

Ferguson has the latest fordcast. Good evening. The Met Officd will

continue with a warning for heavy rain through to 9.00am tomorrow

There a number of you through Wiltshire, Bath, Gloucestershire,

who saw the result of a simhlar warning last night with nasty

conditions. I think this tile it is going to be a case of transferring

of that threat eastwards as the night wears on, particularlx parts

of Gloucestershire, particularly South Gloucestershire, throtgh the

M4 corridor. We will have to blurt edges as to where the worst of any

potential storms may or may not develop. Anyway, it will be a mild

night again about 13 to 15. Low cloud around. Showers should be away

to the east of us. It'll brhghten up into the afternoon. I would expect

it to be dry through the rest of the day and once again turning warm

where the sun breaks through, getting up into about the low 2 s,

21, maybe even 22. It will be a fresher day on Sunday. A good deal

of dry, sunny weather about. Quite settled into the next week `s

Hello. Our weather is about to correct itself and stop acting as if

we are still at the height of summer. 26 Celsius today in Sussex

and Kent. Some disruptive thunderer storms. Those affected parts of

southern and south-west England with flooding. Further intense

storms developed to the north and east of London, and moving into East

Anglia. There's been a lot of rain in a short space of time, producing

flooding. Hail in places. This is East London this afternoon. If this

has been your weather recently, big changes are on the way. This weekend

we clear away the thunder storms. If you've had low cloud, mist and

drizzle, your weather improves as cleaner air pushes south. We are not

there yet. Another claggy night Showers and heavy downpours