:00:00. > :00:17.heavy rain is causing more misery as flood waters are on the rise.
:00:18. > :00:22.Good evening. Wales has been offered military help as winds reaching more
:00:23. > :00:27.than 100mph have been battering our coastline. The offer was made after
:00:28. > :00:32.a meeting of the UK's emergency Cobra committee in London. Worst hit
:00:33. > :00:35.have been West and North West Wales. The Met Office issued a rare, red
:00:36. > :00:39.warning about high winds, saying lives could be in danger. And across
:00:40. > :00:51.the country 75,000 homes are without power. Roger Pinney reports. From
:00:52. > :00:53.space, you can see the storm, in the satellite image, the distinctive
:00:54. > :00:59.curler deep depression over Britain. In Wales, it has meant
:01:00. > :01:03.this. -- the distinctive curl of a deep depression. All along the
:01:04. > :01:06.western coast from the tip of Anglesey to Pembrokeshire, raging,
:01:07. > :01:13.foaming seas and howling winds. Little wonder that the Coast Guard
:01:14. > :01:16.should issue this warning. We have alerted ship men in the area and
:01:17. > :01:22.have told them as the public not to play on the coastline, keep away
:01:23. > :01:26.from the waves. On Anglesey tonight, wind turbines have burst into
:01:27. > :01:31.flames. Maybe they have been unable to cope with the strength of the
:01:32. > :01:35.gusts. Across the country, the storm has brought its fair share of
:01:36. > :01:39.disruption. From Holyhead, most ferry services were cancelled and
:01:40. > :01:42.schools finished early. Many rail services have been cancelled or
:01:43. > :01:47.delayed. The Britannia Bridge linking Anglesey to the mainland was
:01:48. > :01:51.closed after a lorry overturned. Power workers have been at full
:01:52. > :01:57.stretch to repair damaged lines. Thousands of homes have been without
:01:58. > :02:00.electricity. We haven't got the Internet, so we can't keep in
:02:01. > :02:05.contact with everything that is going on. We got a television or
:02:06. > :02:10.anything else. You have technicians, engineers, everybody we can they're
:02:11. > :02:14.trying to carry out repairs. Very difficult under the circumstances in
:02:15. > :02:20.the weather. The ones in West Wales cannot even get out of their vehicle
:02:21. > :02:25.it is so weary -- Wendy. In Cardiff, this man was knocked to the
:02:26. > :02:30.ground by the wind and there, as elsewhere in Wales, there have been
:02:31. > :02:33.uprooted trees. If it had been a busy time it could have been a major
:02:34. > :02:37.catastrophe, because this road can be packed with cars from top to
:02:38. > :02:44.bottom when everyone is leaving the hospital. This was the south coast
:02:45. > :02:50.as the storm raced up the Irish Sea, the full force was felt there. I've
:02:51. > :02:53.never seen anything like it. I am over 60. I've lived here over 30
:02:54. > :02:58.years, and this is the worst period I have seen. Since Christmas, I've
:02:59. > :03:03.not seen anything like it, we haven't had a day which has been
:03:04. > :03:09.strong winds or rain. And throughout the day the strength of the wind
:03:10. > :03:12.seemed to build and build. Here on the bay you struggle to stand up,
:03:13. > :03:20.and the Coast Guard has told me that the wind of Holyhead breakwater is
:03:21. > :03:24.topping 70 knots, that's storm Force 12, hurricane speed, and of course,
:03:25. > :03:29.the gusts are much greater than that. One man who knows what it is
:03:30. > :03:35.like at sea in hurricane force wind is Brian Thompson of the Holyhead
:03:36. > :03:40.lifeboat. He says it is something he doesn't want to experience again. It
:03:41. > :03:43.was unpleasant, I can only describe it as being like being inside a
:03:44. > :03:48.washing machine, being thrown around violently. Were huge forces. We've
:03:49. > :03:54.seen in the last few days what it's done to the land, so imagine what
:03:55. > :04:00.they can do to a boat. This has been a day to batten down the hatches.
:04:01. > :04:03.Another of a net -- endless stream of this. When will it all end? We'll
:04:04. > :04:07.have a full weather forecast shortly with Behnaz. And you get the latest
:04:08. > :04:09.information on the storms, on BBC Radio Wales, Radio Cymru and online,
:04:10. > :04:12.at bbc.co.uk/walesnews. The Welsh Conservative leader Andrew
:04:13. > :04:16.R.T Davies has sacked four members of his front bench, after they
:04:17. > :04:18.failed to back him in an Assembly vote on devolving income tax powers.
:04:19. > :04:23.The four's responsibilities are being shared out amongst other
:04:24. > :04:26.members of the Assembly group. Our Welsh Affairs Editor Vaughan
:04:27. > :04:33.Roderick is here. Vaughan, so who's been sacked? Florafern, the most
:04:34. > :04:39.prominent name by far is Nick Ramsay. He is -- the four of them.
:04:40. > :04:43.He is the business spokesman at the moment and more importantly he is
:04:44. > :04:47.the person that Andrew Davies beat for the leadership narrowly in 2011.
:04:48. > :04:53.So something of a big beast on the benches. Mohammed Ash Garp, Janet
:04:54. > :04:58.Fitt Saunders, perhaps not that well known to the general public. Why has
:04:59. > :05:03.he taken this action? Yesterday there was a vote in the assembly on
:05:04. > :05:08.something quite technical. It's very technical, but important. It's about
:05:09. > :05:12.the way tax powers might be devolving cadre. Andrew Davies is in
:05:13. > :05:14.dispute with the UK Conservative leadership and David Jones over
:05:15. > :05:22.whether that measure should be introduced. He voted in favour of a
:05:23. > :05:24.motion criticising this, and the other four members didn't. He
:05:25. > :05:31.regarded that as disloyalty and got rid of them. It is a big step to
:05:32. > :05:35.take. How bad is the split? Pretty bad. You have four members of the
:05:36. > :05:38.group backing the line of the Secretary of State for Wales and the
:05:39. > :05:42.rest back the line of their leader in the assembly. People are being
:05:43. > :05:47.pretty open about this. Antoinette, one of the sacked, said it is his
:05:48. > :05:51.right to do this, but it is regrettable that he has chosen to
:05:52. > :05:53.split his group. Vaughan, thank you very much.
:05:54. > :05:57.It's been confirmed that police are to investigate payments by two
:05:58. > :06:02.councils to their chief executives, described as unlawful by a spending
:06:03. > :06:04.watchdog. Carmarthenshire Chief executive Mark James and
:06:05. > :06:08.Pembrokeshire's Bryn Parry Jones received cash payments in lieu of
:06:09. > :06:18.employer pension contributions. Both councils have vigorously defended
:06:19. > :06:21.the payments as lawful. A former boss of children's homes in North
:06:22. > :06:24.Wales has pleaded not guilty to 39 counts of historical sexual abuse.
:06:25. > :06:28.John Allen, who's 72, appeared today at Caernarfon Crown Court. The judge
:06:29. > :06:32.says his trial is likely to take place in the Autumn.
:06:33. > :06:36.Appeal court judges in Cardiff have adjourned a hearing in the case of
:06:37. > :06:39.two men convicted of killing teenager Amir Siddiqi in 2010. Jason
:06:40. > :06:43.Richards and Ben Hope were sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in jail for
:06:44. > :06:45.the murder of the 17-year-old, who was stabbed to death on his doorstep
:06:46. > :06:50.in Cardiff. Charities working with people who
:06:51. > :06:55.abuse alcohol say they're concerned about the drinking habits of the
:06:56. > :06:58.over 60's in Wales. Alcohol Concern Cymru and The Welsh Council on
:06:59. > :07:02.Alcohol say drinking problems in that age range are largely hidden
:07:03. > :07:12.and under-researched. Paul Heaney reports.
:07:13. > :07:17.71-year-old Ray Preston can still clearly remember the days when he
:07:18. > :07:22.could drink without any problems. But after his wife passed away, his
:07:23. > :07:27.drinking increased. His son eventually found him collapsed at
:07:28. > :07:31.home. If my son hadn't come that day, I would have died in this
:07:32. > :07:40.chair. He said that, if you ever do it again, you are dead. Me, my wife
:07:41. > :07:46.and my children. Can't do that. Ray said the habit crept up on him. It
:07:47. > :07:50.was easy for me to pick up a whiskey off the table there. And then that
:07:51. > :07:55.was empty, I'd totter out of the kitchen and get another. The most
:07:56. > :08:00.recent quarterly figures show 17% more people over the age of 60
:08:01. > :08:05.sought help with a drinking problem last year compared to the year
:08:06. > :08:10.before. One charity says it is a hidden but growing problem. Maybe
:08:11. > :08:16.these older people are only just emerging out of the bottle now and
:08:17. > :08:20.are only now becoming aware of the problem that might have been there
:08:21. > :08:24.for some considerable time. Brady has stayed sober for three years for
:08:25. > :08:25.his family now and says people his age should not be afraid to ask the
:08:26. > :08:31.help. -- for help. Football, and highlights of Swansea
:08:32. > :08:35.City's Premier League match at Stoke are on Match of the Day straight
:08:36. > :08:39.after this bulletin, so if you don't want to know the score, look away
:08:40. > :08:43.now. The Swans drew 1-1 with relegation rivals Stoke at the
:08:44. > :08:46.Britannia Stadium. Stoke led at the break, but Chico Flores equalised in
:08:47. > :08:50.the second half. Swansea are now 10th in the table.
:08:51. > :08:53.European rugby is edging towards a peace deal after months of bitter
:08:54. > :08:57.argument. A Six Nations meeting in Paris today agreed on a format for a
:08:58. > :09:00.new European Cup next season. The Welsh Rugby Union and the Welsh
:09:01. > :09:02.regions will now be involved in working on the finer details of the
:09:03. > :09:09.plans over the coming weeks. Well, let's get the latest on the
:09:10. > :09:16.weather situation now. Behnaz is here. Are things any calmer tonight?
:09:17. > :09:21.They should be. Of Ireland day of weather, but hopefully the winds
:09:22. > :09:28.will start to ease over the next few hours. The red warning has expired,
:09:29. > :09:31.but we do still have an amber warning, which means you need to be
:09:32. > :09:42.prepared for damaging winds. The other gusts, 108 mph, and 96 mph in
:09:43. > :09:46.Mumbles. Not that high at the moment, 60 or 70 mph, but easing
:09:47. > :09:50.down through the night. We will see a few showers which could be wintry
:09:51. > :09:54.and there is a risk of some ice, so you need to take care on untreated
:09:55. > :09:57.surfaces. Temperatures around the freezing mark for most of us. We get
:09:58. > :10:02.a brief breakthrough tomorrow from the area of low pressure. Lighter
:10:03. > :10:07.winds, and largely dry, but we have another deep area of low pressure
:10:08. > :10:12.heading in on Friday. First thing tomorrow morning, a few showers
:10:13. > :10:15.which could be mixed with sleet, hail or even snow but there will be
:10:16. > :10:18.some brightness and between the showers and there is a risk of ice
:10:19. > :10:23.first thing in the morning. Do take care if you are heading out on
:10:24. > :10:26.untreated surfaces. The rest of the UK, strong winds across northern
:10:27. > :10:31.part of Scotland, the possibility of snow at lower levels, and snow
:10:32. > :10:35.across the Pennines as well. Elsewhere, a case of sunny spells
:10:36. > :10:41.and showers, and also quite strong winds with nowhere near as strong as
:10:42. > :10:45.they were today. It will be blustery on coastal areas tomorrow. You are
:10:46. > :10:50.looking at gusts of around 50 or 60 mph. Further inland, lighter winds,
:10:51. > :10:54.showers with brightness in between. It will feel colder with ties
:10:55. > :10:56.between six or eight Celsius. Through tomorrow night most of the
:10:57. > :11:03.showers will clear and the winds will die in bash away. Frost will
:11:04. > :11:06.form, and a cold night, temperatures around freezing all of us. Friday
:11:07. > :11:12.morning, will start dry, but pretty quickly we see the rain pushing in
:11:13. > :11:13.from the south, and with that comes strong winds and the possibility of
:11:14. > :11:20.even snow as well. A little bit better tomorrow at
:11:21. > :11:26.least. We'll have the latest on the storms in Breakfast from 6:25am.
:11:27. > :11:28.That's Wales Today. Goodnight.