The big clean up operation has swung into force in north Essex following the storms.

Residents in and around Colchester have been struggling to get back to normal after Sunday's gales left a trail of devastation

It was first thought the winds had peaked at 80mph, but a reading by coastguards at Bradwell-on-Sea, near Maldon, recorded winds gusting along the River Blackwater at more than 100mph.

One of many trees brought down during the storms

Thousands of homeowners faced a second night without electricity as engineers from 24Seven struggled to reconnect services.

A spokesman said today that 9,200 Essex customers were waiting to be reconnected and crews worked through the night to complete the task.

At one time more than 300,000 people were affected across the East of England about ten per cent of the total customers. Today, that figure stood at 44,000.

The spokesman said: "We would like to thank people for their patience."

Clean up work was also in full swing on the Essex coast.

In Harwich this included removing beach huts wrecked by the gale force winds and Betty Holloway, secretary of Dovercourt Beach Hut and Seafront Users' Association, said she had never seen such damage.

She said: "One beach hut was picked right up by the wind and took off and another fell flat like a pack of cards. It was absolute chaos down there.

"Fortunately a lot of them are insured, which is a good thing because it would cost an absolute fortune to replace them."

She said winds from Walton, which reached up to 80mph, blew along the coast to Dovercourt and hit the first block of beach huts near West End beach

Ferry services from Harwich International Port were yesterday returning to normal after severe disruptions.

Terry Davies, port divisional manager, said: "Just about everything was affected here."

Mr Davies added that some port property was damaged, including roofs and portable buildings.

Published Tuesday October 29, 2002

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