24/12/2013 South East Today

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

Good evening. Thousands of homes in lot more success

Good evening. Thousands of homes in Kent and Sussex will be without

power on Christmas Day, as electricity companies battle with

the aftermath of last night's storm. Some parts saw 120 millimetres of

rainfall, almost five inches. A number of rivers have burst their

banks, causing flooding that has blocked roads, disrupted train

services and led to major delays at Gatwick Airport. Jon Hunt reports.

A town flooded on Christmas eve, around 90 millimetres of rain fell

overnight, with the rising water spilling into shops and homes.

Christmas has been ruined for Maggie and her family, her home flooded

this morning, ruin in her new kitchen, extension and flooring.

Just devastated, it has hit me hard. I realise how much it has ruined

everything we have worked for, everything we have worked for, it

has wrecked it for my husband, the work he has done here. 20 foot

warnings were in place across the South East on 14 rivers and

streams. The rain is now finding its way into the rivers so the majority

of the rivers across the South East are still rising and we are watching

those closely, and we have issued flood alert and afford warnings as

necessary. Dashboard warnings. Roads were locked and electricity and

telephone cables were wrote down. This man is worried his Christmas

food will spoil if the power to stop combat scene. `` comeback soon.

About 10pm, the lights went out and they came back again, then it

flashed three times and that was it, they were out completely. At the

peak of the disruption, 40,000 homes in the area were without power.

Thousands may remain disconnected on Christmas Day. If customers do not

have power back tonight, it is unlikely they will have it tomorrow.

We expect the majority of customers to be back on supply by Boxing Day.

More than 70 flights were cancelled out of today and others disrupted a

problem with derelict trusty system caused problems. Everybody was

standing around, thousands of people around the terminal, they are coming

up to you step by step calling out flights. Trying to get the backlog

sorted out. The winds may have used for the time being but there is

still the risk of more flooding. Families are facing a difficult

Christmas, fighting the floodwaters, coping without power or being forced

to spend Christmas out of their homes.

It has also been a day of misery on the trains, with both Southern and

Southeastern facing massive disruption to their services. Our

reporter, Ellie Price, is at Three Bridges station in Crawley now. What

is the latest? As you say, misery. Passengers here

are trying desperately to get to where they need to be this Christmas

Eve. A landslide has disrupted trains between London and the coast.

Hundreds of passengers have been waiting over an hour for replacement

buses or trying to get a taxi, and things are not likely to get

better. Southern trains say passengers must travel now because

the last scheduled training could be cancelled, Southeast and wrapping up

their services as we speak. `` the last scheduled train. Let's take a

look at the weather. It is an increasing `` and improving

story. Much drier over the next couple of

days. Temperatures, nine, 10 degrees, and winds will ease off.

Around 20 mph. Heavy shower around tonight, quite a cold night,

temperatures dropping to three, four degrees. A damp start to Christmas

Day. It will be colder and brighter. The winds will stay later, from a

south`westerly direction. 15, 20 mph. Top temperatures in single

figures. On Boxing Day, it will be the driest state of the week. High

pressure to thank for that, lots of sunshine, but it does not stay that

way. Warnings out for heavy rain on Friday and gale force winds.

Thank you, make the best of it, despite the disruption. Happy

Christmas! 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