Pedestrians and motorists were warned to stay indoors and not to travel this week, as stormy weather and strong winds again hit the county.

People in Pembrokeshire were urged to take extreme care when approaching buildings and trees, in the very severe weather conditions that hit the county throughout the day on Wednesday.

Exceptionally high winds of 93.6 mph were recorded on the Cleddau Bridge, which was closed for safety, and there were hurricane force 12 winds off the Pembrokeshire coast, as schools across the county were forced to shut early and people out and about were warned of falling debris from buildings and trees.

Several areas, including Kilgetty and Saundersfoot, were also blacked out as power lines came crashing down, while local rail services were also halted, causing misery for many passengers.

The message from Pembrokeshire County Council's head of highways, Darren Thomas, was - "don't travel or walk unless you really, really have to."

Mr. Thomas also warned anyone travelling with caravans or mobile homes, to seek a sheltered location until the winds died down.

A report from Western Power said that a large number of properties hit by power cuts in the area on Wednesday were still without their electricity supply on Thursday morning, including Manorbier School, which remained closed, but was due to re-open later that afternoon.

Power lines also came down on West Street in Pembroke, with an emergency road closure put in place as the lines were live.

Part of a wall collapsed onto a road near Golden Grove School, on Pembroke Commons, whilst there were reports of slates coming off a roof at Woodbine Terrace in Pembroke Dock.

Firefighters from brigades across Pembrokeshire dealt with several unsafe structures and a number of weather-related incidents.

Tenby's fire crew dealt with slates and tiles falling off the roofs of properties in Harding Street, St. Julian Street and Clement Terrace, while Victoria Street and South Cliff Gardens were closed due to slates coming off the South Cliff Hotel.

With several trees falling and causing road closures, Pembrokeshire County Council's area maintenance crews worked throughout the night clearing trees and debris and continued working yesterday on any outstanding issues, including assessing trees which had been reported dangerous.

Several incidents of trees and branches coming down and blocking carriageways were reported in areas including Tudor Way, Tenby; on the B4316 in Swallow Tree; on Church Terrace, Devonshire Drive, Rushy Lake, in Saundersfoot; the road outside The Paddock Inn, Penally; at the end of Eastern Lane, St Florence; and Meadow Hurst, Manorbier.

Kilgetty roundabout was blocked due to a fallen tree, while the B4316 Saundersfoot to New Hedges and A478 Tenby to New Hedges roads were also affected, as was the A477 which was closed between Llanddowror and Red Roses.

A large tree across the road from Kilanow Farm towards Colby Lodge in Stepaside, caused a blockage, while in Carew, the A4075 was partially blocked due to a fallen tree between the Carew roundabout and Whitehill.

The Maenclochog to Narberth road (in the Gelli area) was affected by falling trees, while firefighters were called to Narberth's Dragon Inn as tiles were falling off the roof onto the road.

A tree blocked the old trunk road by Amroth, while the A477 carriageway was shut and diversions put in place.

Conditions were calmer on yesterday (Thursday), but forecasters warned that more wet and windy weather was expected to return over the weekend.

FOOTNOTE: As we were going to press, the county council said that their highways and area maintenance teams had dealt with more than 150 reports of trees, large branches and debris.

Their contact centre usually receives around 1,100 phone calls on a normal Wednesday, but more than 2,000 extra calls were made on the day.