Tributes to man killed as tree hits car in high winds

Tributes were today paid to a man killed when his car was crushed by a tree uprooted by high winds on the Shropshire border.

Steve Cutler, 51, was travelling on the A458 Bridgnorth Road, at Stourton, near Stourbridge, when the tree hit his silver Mercedes Vaneo.

The tragedy on Thursday night came as gales of up to 100mph lashed the country and caused damage and disruption to roads and buildings.

Mr Cutler, of Hillboro Rise, Kinver, leaves a wife, Alison, and two sons, Alex and Jack, both in their 20s.

Family friend Jenny Darby said: "He was really loved and our best friend. Alison was his life."

It comes as Britain today braced itself for further gales and heavy rain as the weather continued to wreak havoc.

In Scotland, the wind blew down trees and tore roofs from buildings, while oil workers were airlifted from a North Sea installation after several anchor chains failed in severe weather yesterday.

In exposed mountain areas, wind speeds broke 115mph. The Met Office said its calculator at the top of the Cairngorms, which shuts down at this speed, went out of action for four hours last night.

Parts of northern England were also affected, with a block of flats in Leeds evacuated after its roof became loose, and the top deck of the Tinsley Viaduct - which carries the M1 over the Lower Don Valley - closed after a lorry was blown over.

However, Britain's plight was not as bad as elsewhere, with Cyclone Yasi tearing through the north east of Australia this week.

More than 7ins of rain fell in just a few hours overnight in some neighbourhoods while winds gusting to 80mph knocked down trees.

Emergency Service said 84 people were rescued from stalled cars or flooded homes and a British tourist was taken to a hospital after part of a tree fell on his tent.

The heat was on at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium ahead of Superbowl Sunday to melt ice following a fresh blast of snow to hit the city.

The snow and ice cancelled hundreds of flights, transformed highways into ribbons of white and caused dangerous sheets of ice to fall from the stadium.