Weather bomb

FALLEN tree . . . in Middleton Road, Royton

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IT was a case of batten down the hatches as Storm Doris descended on Oldham yesterday.

Winds of up to 80mph swept in as rain lashed the borough with the Met Office issuing an amber warning for Greater Manchester. Forecasters described the storm as a "weather bomb".

Trees crushed cars, houses lost tiles and bins were strewn over roads.

Irene Bush (72), of Middleton Road, Royton, was shaken when an uprooted 30ft tree landed on her car.

The grandmother-of-three was in her house on Middleton Road, when the huge tree collapsed with branches reaching up to her front door.

Ripped

She said: "There was no warning ­- it looked fine, not as if it would fall. If it had fallen the other way it would have fallen into my house which is very scary to think about.

"I've always disliked that tree but I didn't want to get rid of it in this way."

Julie Wrigley was enjoying a brew at home when the heavy cover of her hot tub was blown off.

She said: "Thankfully it didn't take flight but it's now wedged between the tub and the door and I can't open it."

Saheed Ahmed was walking to work along Cambridge Street in Werneth at 7.30am when he noticed security fences for a housing development site had been ripped down.

Oldham Council's parks team dealt with up to 50 trees that had been damaged.

Elsewhere, filming was cancelled on the set of "Coronation Street" in Salford.

Flights at Manchester Airport were cancelled, trains were delayed on the line to Liverpool and on the M6, the Thellwall Viaduct near Warrington was closed.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service received around 150 calls and attended around 60 incidents, the majority about trees falling across roads and footpaths.

A woman was killed after being struck by flying debris in Wolverhampton.

Rebecca Davis, a 40-year-old teacher from the city, said she saw a piece of debris as "about the size of a coffee table" fly through the air.

Doris is now set to leave trail of ice, wintry showers and a plunge in temperatures.