A BRIEF but violent storm with winds gusting to more than 50mph hit Surrey at teatime today (Saturday) felling trees and blocking roads.
The drama occurred at just after 4.45pm as people were returning home from weekend shopping trips to town centres. The sky turned ominously dark, trees started to thrash around and there were, in the north of the county, crashes of thunder and bursts of hail.
In just a few dramatic moments, windows of cars and homes steamed up and the heavens opened. A shrieking wind blasted through gardens and parks and dozens of trees were brought down.
At 4.52pm, the wind gusted to 52mph at Reigate Grammar School.
The A25 road from Godstone to Oxted was closed in both directions when a large tree toppled in the squally wind. Two lanes of the northbound M23 between Crawley and the M25 at Merstham were shut because another tree had crashed down.
Police put on blue lights in Whitepost Hill, Redhill, to warn of a tree which had come down.
The A25 at Brockham, between the Betchworth roundabout and the Brockham Lane junction as well as the A23 in Redhill, between Gatton Point and the town centre also had fallen trees blocking the road in places.
The Hindhead and Brook areas of west Surrey were also affected by fallen branches and trees.
In Coulsdon, trees crashed on to greenhouses in Rickman Hill.
Weatherman Ian Currie said a line squall had crossed the south from the north-west and had become unusually active, triggering thunder and lighting and high winds.
"It was an almighty wind and here at Rickman Hill, it could easily have been in excess of 60mph," he said.
Featherbed Lane, which runs from Fickleshole to Forestdale, South Croydon, was blocked and buses had to take diversions along small streets unfamiliar to drivers.
Another tree fell across Sandpit Road at Redhill Common. Roads in Byfleet, such as the A245 near Seven Hills, Cobham, and Woodham Lane, Woodham, have seen trees come down over them, disrupting transport.
Winds exceeded 35mph at Gatwick Aiport as the squall moved through at around 5pm.
Tomorrow, the Met Office has warned of a spell of heavy rain and high winds in the morning as a winter storm moves in from the west. Surrey's saturated countryside could again become flooded and an amber alert has been issued for the county by the Met Office.
Already, it has been the wettest winter in Surrey for more than a century.
