12/02/2014 BBC Wales Today

heavy rain is causing more misery as flood waters are on the rise.

Good evening. Wales has been offered military help as winds reaching more

than 100mph have been battering our coastline. The offer was made after

a meeting of the UK's emergency Cobra committee in London. Worst hit

have been West and North West Wales. The Met Office issued a rare, red

warning about high winds, saying lives could be in danger. And across

the country 75,000 homes are without power. Roger Pinney reports. From

space, you can see the storm, in the satellite image, the distinctive

curler deep depression over Britain. In Wales, it has meant

this. -- the distinctive curl of a deep depression. All along the

western coast from the tip of Anglesey to Pembrokeshire, raging,

foaming seas and howling winds. Little wonder that the Coast Guard

should issue this warning. We have alerted ship men in the area and

have told them as the public not to play on the coastline, keep away

from the waves. On Anglesey tonight, wind turbines have burst into

flames. Maybe they have been unable to cope with the strength of the

gusts. Across the country, the storm has brought its fair share of

disruption. From Holyhead, most ferry services were cancelled and

schools finished early. Many rail services have been cancelled or

delayed. The Britannia Bridge linking Anglesey to the mainland was

closed after a lorry overturned. Power workers have been at full

stretch to repair damaged lines. Thousands of homes have been without

electricity. We haven't got the Internet, so we can't keep in

contact with everything that is going on. We got a television or

anything else. You have technicians, engineers, everybody we can they're

trying to carry out repairs. Very difficult under the circumstances in

the weather. The ones in West Wales cannot even get out of their vehicle

it is so weary -- Wendy. In Cardiff, this man was knocked to the

ground by the wind and there, as elsewhere in Wales, there have been

uprooted trees. If it had been a busy time it could have been a major

catastrophe, because this road can be packed with cars from top to

bottom when everyone is leaving the hospital. This was the south coast

as the storm raced up the Irish Sea, the full force was felt there. I've

never seen anything like it. I am over 60. I've lived here over 30

years, and this is the worst period I have seen. Since Christmas, I've

not seen anything like it, we haven't had a day which has been

strong winds or rain. And throughout the day the strength of the wind

seemed to build and build. Here on the bay you struggle to stand up,

and the Coast Guard has told me that the wind of Holyhead breakwater is

topping 70 knots, that's storm Force 12, hurricane speed, and of course,

the gusts are much greater than that. One man who knows what it is

like at sea in hurricane force wind is Brian Thompson of the Holyhead

lifeboat. He says it is something he doesn't want to experience again. It

was unpleasant, I can only describe it as being like being inside a

washing machine, being thrown around violently. Were huge forces. We've

seen in the last few days what it's done to the land, so imagine what

they can do to a boat. This has been a day to batten down the hatches.

Another of a net -- endless stream of this. When will it all end? We'll

have a full weather forecast shortly with Behnaz. And you get the latest

information on the storms, on BBC Radio Wales, Radio Cymru and online,

at bbc.co.uk/walesnews. The Welsh Conservative leader Andrew

R.T Davies has sacked four members of his front bench, after they

failed to back him in an Assembly vote on devolving income tax powers.

The four's responsibilities are being shared out amongst other

members of the Assembly group. Our Welsh Affairs Editor Vaughan

Roderick is here. Vaughan, so who's been sacked? Florafern, the most

prominent name by far is Nick Ramsay. He is -- the four of them.

He is the business spokesman at the moment and more importantly he is

the person that Andrew Davies beat for the leadership narrowly in 2011.

So something of a big beast on the benches. Mohammed Ash Garp, Janet

Fitt Saunders, perhaps not that well known to the general public. Why has

he taken this action? Yesterday there was a vote in the assembly on

something quite technical. It's very technical, but important. It's about

the way tax powers might be devolving cadre. Andrew Davies is in

dispute with the UK Conservative leadership and David Jones over

whether that measure should be introduced. He voted in favour of a

motion criticising this, and the other four members didn't. He

regarded that as disloyalty and got rid of them. It is a big step to

take. How bad is the split? Pretty bad. You have four members of the

group backing the line of the Secretary of State for Wales and the

rest back the line of their leader in the assembly. People are being

pretty open about this. Antoinette, one of the sacked, said it is his

right to do this, but it is regrettable that he has chosen to

split his group. Vaughan, thank you very much.

It's been confirmed that police are to investigate payments by two

councils to their chief executives, described as unlawful by a spending

watchdog. Carmarthenshire Chief executive Mark James and

Pembrokeshire's Bryn Parry Jones received cash payments in lieu of

employer pension contributions. Both councils have vigorously defended

the payments as lawful. A former boss of children's homes in North

Wales has pleaded not guilty to 39 counts of historical sexual abuse.

John Allen, who's 72, appeared today at Caernarfon Crown Court. The judge

says his trial is likely to take place in the Autumn.

Appeal court judges in Cardiff have adjourned a hearing in the case of

two men convicted of killing teenager Amir Siddiqi in 2010. Jason

Richards and Ben Hope were sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in jail for

the murder of the 17-year-old, who was stabbed to death on his doorstep

in Cardiff. Charities working with people who

abuse alcohol say they're concerned about the drinking habits of the

over 60's in Wales. Alcohol Concern Cymru and The Welsh Council on

Alcohol say drinking problems in that age range are largely hidden

and under-researched. Paul Heaney reports.

71-year-old Ray Preston can still clearly remember the days when he

could drink without any problems. But after his wife passed away, his

drinking increased. His son eventually found him collapsed at

home. If my son hadn't come that day, I would have died in this

chair. He said that, if you ever do it again, you are dead. Me, my wife

and my children. Can't do that. Ray said the habit crept up on him. It

was easy for me to pick up a whiskey off the table there. And then that

was empty, I'd totter out of the kitchen and get another. The most

recent quarterly figures show 17% more people over the age of 60

sought help with a drinking problem last year compared to the year

before. One charity says it is a hidden but growing problem. Maybe

these older people are only just emerging out of the bottle now and

are only now becoming aware of the problem that might have been there

for some considerable time. Brady has stayed sober for three years for

his family now and says people his age should not be afraid to ask the

help. -- for help. Football, and highlights of Swansea

City's Premier League match at Stoke are on Match of the Day straight

after this bulletin, so if you don't want to know the score, look away

now. The Swans drew 1-1 with relegation rivals Stoke at the

Britannia Stadium. Stoke led at the break, but Chico Flores equalised in

the second half. Swansea are now 10th in the table.

European rugby is edging towards a peace deal after months of bitter

argument. A Six Nations meeting in Paris today agreed on a format for a

new European Cup next season. The Welsh Rugby Union and the Welsh

regions will now be involved in working on the finer details of the

plans over the coming weeks. Well, let's get the latest on the

weather situation now. Behnaz is here. Are things any calmer tonight?

They should be. Of Ireland day of weather, but hopefully the winds

will start to ease over the next few hours. The red warning has expired,

but we do still have an amber warning, which means you need to be

prepared for damaging winds. The other gusts, 108 mph, and 96 mph in

Mumbles. Not that high at the moment, 60 or 70 mph, but easing

down through the night. We will see a few showers which could be wintry

and there is a risk of some ice, so you need to take care on untreated

surfaces. Temperatures around the freezing mark for most of us. We get

a brief breakthrough tomorrow from the area of low pressure. Lighter

winds, and largely dry, but we have another deep area of low pressure

heading in on Friday. First thing tomorrow morning, a few showers

which could be mixed with sleet, hail or even snow but there will be

some brightness and between the showers and there is a risk of ice

first thing in the morning. Do take care if you are heading out on

untreated surfaces. The rest of the UK, strong winds across northern

part of Scotland, the possibility of snow at lower levels, and snow

across the Pennines as well. Elsewhere, a case of sunny spells

and showers, and also quite strong winds with nowhere near as strong as

they were today. It will be blustery on coastal areas tomorrow. You are

looking at gusts of around 50 or 60 mph. Further inland, lighter winds,

showers with brightness in between. It will feel colder with ties

between six or eight Celsius. Through tomorrow night most of the

showers will clear and the winds will die in bash away. Frost will

form, and a cold night, temperatures around freezing all of us. Friday

morning, will start dry, but pretty quickly we see the rain pushing in

from the south, and with that comes strong winds and the possibility of

even snow as well. A little bit better tomorrow at

least. We'll have the latest on the storms in Breakfast from 6:25am.

That's Wales Today. Goodnight.