DORSET is bracing itself for further severe weather after storms tore through the county this weekend. A yellow weather warning of rain from the Met Office remained in place until 11.45pm last night and flood alerts remain in place for areas in Dorchester, West Stafford, Wool and the Winterbourne villages.

There are no longer coastal flood warnings for Weymouth, Castletown, Preston, Chiswell, Chesil beach, Lyme Regis, Charmouth, West Bay, Burton Bradstock, and West Fleet. But there’s a flood alert for the River Wey to Radipole Lake and likely groundwater flooding for the West Dorset area.

Work by the Environment Agency continued yesterday on Preston Beach in Weymouth, where agency officials are putting large boulders in place in a bid to reduce the risk of further damage and flooding.

A collapsed manhole caused heavy traffic between the A35 junction in Bere Regis and the B3075 Quarr Hill junction in East Morden, while a dangerous tree closed Bincleaves Road in Weymouth.

The A350 was also closed in both directions between the B3082 Milldown Road junction in Blandford Forum and the A30 Christy’s Lane junction in Shaftesbury, because of fallen power cables.

Motorists were told to expect delays in the area and were urged to take care after reports of people lifting fallen power cables to drive underneath.

A fallen tree shut the A35 in both directions for more than two hours between the Mitsubishi junction in Bridport and Monkeys Jump Roundabout near Dorchester.

The large tree came down across both carriageways west of Winterbourne Abbas, between the Littlebredy turning and the Compton Valence turning; leading to bus services suspended or delayed.

There was also flooding on the A352 in both directions in Wareham.