DORSET was battered by gale-force winds as Storm Isha swept across the county.

A number of trees were brought down and communities were plunged into darkness following a series of power cuts.

The county largely escaped unscathed however compared to other parts of the country and there was no reports of any serious damage or injuries due to the storm which whipped in on Sunday night and into Monday morning.

The fire service and local council received an influx of calls.

Dorset Council revealed it received about 75 weather-related calls during the storm.

The local authority also played a role in the clean up during the aftermath, but this was ‘mainly for branches either suspended or down in the road.’

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service also received ‘a lot of emergency calls about fallen trees,’ although it is not believed that the service attended any of the call-outs ‘as there was no risk to life.’

More windy and wet weather is forecast on Tuesday although it won't be as bad. Dorset is not affected by Storm Jocelyn which is due to sweep in after Isha.

River levels remained high and rising again at the Stinsford river gauge on the Lower Frome between Dorchester and Wareham and there are flood warnings in place.

Power cuts affected residents in various locations on Sunday night including Abbotsbury and Osmington, and in the areas of Hilton and Milton Abbas in mid-Dorset.

Some villages were still without power yesterday.

A spokesperson for SSEN said earlier: “Scottish and Southern Electricity Network engineers are working in challenging conditions to safely restore power supplies to customers in Milton Abbas.

“Damage caused by Storm Isha to the local infrastructure initially affected 352 customers in the area, with engineers restoring all but 21 customers. These remaining customers are expected to be back on supply by 7pm this evening (Monday).

“A welfare facility providing hot food and drinks for these customers has been set up at The Hambro Arms."

Fallen trees were also causing havoc on the roads.

The B3146 near Glanvilles Wootton was blocked after a car crashed into a tree that had fallen into the road, at around 6.20am this morning (Monday, January 22).

Luckily, no injuries were reported, and recovery was arranged.

The local authorities were been notified of the fallen tree.

A spokesperson for Dorset Police said: “We received a report at 6.20am of a collision on the B3146 near Glanvilles Wootton involving a single vehicle that had collided with a tree that was in the road.

“There were no reports of any injuries. The local authority has been notified in relation to the fallen tree and recovery is being arranged.”

Another fallen tree on the train tracks was causing issues for South Western Railway services between Woking and Basingstoke on the Waterloo line.

In Burton Bradstock a tree was blown over and ended up crushing a fence and blocking half of the B3157 coast road near its junction with Beach Road.

%image('17670243', type="article-full", alt="A tree has fallen onto the coast road in Burton Bradstock.")

Following the storm, a witness described seeing 'half a tree come down' in Southill.

%image('Following the storm, a witness described seeing 'half a tree come down' in Southill', type="article-full", alt="Following the storm, a witness described seeing 'half a tree come down' in Southill")%image('17670244', type="article-full", alt="Following the storm, a witness described seeing 'half a tree come down' in Southill")

It wasn’t just trees impacted by the storm as the signs for the Range in Dorchester had fallen due to the high winds last night, revealing past memories of Focus home store.

%image('17670242', type="article-full", alt="Damage to the Range sign")

Flooding was forecast to affect locations on the River Frome in Dorchester, West Stafford, Bockhampton, Lewell, Tincleton, Pallington, Waddock, Moreton, Wool, East Stoke, Holmebridge, Stoborough, Stoborough Green, Wareham, Redcliffe, Ridge and Swineham areas.

The Environment Agency urged people to 'please avoid using low lying footpaths and any bridges near local watercourses' and warned people not to attempt to walk or drive through flood water.

Groundwater levels also remain high which could lead to some minor flooding of roads, and septic tanks may not function effectively over the coming days in the areas of Bridport, Chideock, Martinstown, Milborne St. Andrew, Nottington, Piddlehinton, Piddletrenthide, Upwey, Winterborne Abbas, Winterborne Kingston, Winterborne Steepleton, Winterborne Stickland, Winterborne Whitechurch and Winterborne Zelston.