STORM Bella brought strong winds to Dorset through the night bringing down trees, walls and fence panels as it swept across the county. 

Bournemouth Echo:

Picture by Rosemary Hill

An amber weather warning had been issued for the county by the Met Office.

It was in force between 8pm on Saturday and 9am on Sunday.

Bournemouth Echo:

Picture by @NigelGM

The Met Office had said inland gusts of between 50 and 60mph were likely with a few places expected to see winds of 60 to 70mph.

Bournemouth Echo:

Picture by Siarhei Zhydzianouski

Twitter-based forecaster Bournemouth & Poole Weather said just after 3am on Sunday morning that there was “full hurricane force wind over on the Needles IOW, sustained winds at 78mph gusting to 102mph.”

Bournemouth Echo:

Picture by Mark Benfield 

Elsewhere, east Dorset-based forecaster WessexWeather recorded a gust of 50.1mph.

He said: “It’s not a record but it’s incredibly unusual for my relatively sheltered inland station.”

Bournemouth Echo:

Picture by Jason Dell

The A31 at Sturminster Marshall was closed this morning due to fallen power cables and trees.

And in Corfe Mullen, a tree collapsed onto the roof of a property in the early hours of the morning.

There is also flooding on the railway line between Bournemouth and Southampton Central this morning.

Disruption is expected to last until the end of the day.