A section of rail track dangles over the sea after the wall collapsed at Dawlish
UK storms wash away railway line and leave thousands without power
Parts of Britain are being hit by a powerful storm which has washed away a stretch of railway line and left thousands of homes without electricity.
The Environment Agency says around 328 homes have been flooded since Friday evening - with more heavy rain forecast into the weekend.
A section of the sea wall in Dawlish, Devon, collapsed and left the main railway line suspended in mid-air.
David Cameron has announced an extra £100m for flood works.
At Prime Minister's Questions he pledged £75m for repairs over the next year, £10m for urgent work in Somerset - where several rivers have flooded - and £15m for maintenance.
He said: "Whatever is required, whether it is dredging work on the rivers Tone and Parrett, whether it is support for our emergency services, whether it is fresh money for flood defences, whether it's action across the board, this government will help those families and get this issue sorted."
'Force of nature'
Forecasters have warned the storm is heading east, with rain, thunder and hail expected, along with winds of up to 50mph in London.
Dawlish resident Robert Parker said the storm was "like the end of the world".
He said: "It was like an earthquake. I've never experienced anything like it. I've been in some terrible storms in the North Sea, but last night was just a force of nature."
Western Power Distribution said about 44,000 customers had been affected by power cuts since Tuesday afternoon and 9,680 were still without power across the South West. In Cornwall, 7,800 are cut off.
The company said around 800 staff were working to restore supplies.
On the Somerset Levels, residents of more than 150 homes at Fordgate and Northmoor are being advised to leave their properties.
Avon and Somerset Police said flood defences were in danger of being overwhelmed.
Mr Cameron is chairing a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee to discuss the floods following widespread criticism of Environment Secretary Owen Paterson's handling of the crisis.
Waves continued to lash the seafront
Patrick Hallgate from Network Rail, who is assessing the damage at Dawlish, said it could take between four and six weeks to fix the line, which is the main rail link between south Devon and Cornwall.
"This is probably the biggest structural engineering feat we've faced in the South West for at least the last decade," he said.
First Great Western said some branch lines in Devon and Cornwall were starting to operate.
The Environment Agency has nine severe flood warnings in place, meaning "danger to life", covering much of the south coast from Cornwall to Dorset and two areas of Somerset.
High winds and stormy seas have led to further damage to the Grade I listed West Pier in Brighton, East Sussex
Overnight 'pasting'
Teams of engineers worked through the night to fix the faults, and the company said it would also switch circuits to work around individual problems.
Phil Davies, network service manager for the company, said they had had "quite a pasting in the South West overnight".
"We are importing some staff from south Wales and the Midlands to help and we are confident we can get everybody back [with power] today."
In other developments:
- Twenty people were evacuated from Kingsand in Cornwall because their homes were being damaged by stones washed ashore and coming through their windows
- Devon and Cornwall Police received 300 emergency calls overnight. About 100 trees were reported blown over
- In Brighton, a significant section of the West Pier skeleton collapsed in high winds and stormy seas
- Homes were evacuated on the seafront in Torcross, Devon, after waves smashed the front of four buildings
- Portsmouth Historic Dockyard was closed because high winds were causing roof tiles to blow around
- Southeastern said Network Rail had put a 40mph speed restriction in place across parts of its network, making journeys on some services longer
- South West Trains said a speed restriction of 50mph would be imposed on some routes between 10:00 and 19:00 GMT on Wednesday
- Winds of up to 92mph (148km/h) were reported in the Isles of Scilly
Labour MP for Exeter, Ben Bradshaw, said damage to the railway infrastructure could "absolutely devastate" the economies of Devon and Cornwall
- Coastal areas of Devon suffered severe damage
- Looe quay, in Cornwall, is awash with sea water.
- In Wales, a number of main roads were closed by fallen trees or flooding.
The Met Office has an amber severe weather warning - meaning "be prepared" - for wind for south west England until 19:00 GMT on Wednesday, as well as warnings for wind and rain for other parts of the UK.
The Environment Agency's severe flood warnings cover South Cornwall, South Devon from Start Point to Dawlish Warren, South Devon from Exmouth to Lyme Regis, Lyme Regis harbour, West Bay in Dorset, Weymouth seafront, Chiswell on the Isle of Portland, and two areas of Somerset - the A361 East Lyng to Burrowbridge, and Salt Moor and North Moor.
It also has about 70 flood warnings and more than 200 flood alerts in England and Wales.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has one flood warning for Kirkcaldy in Fife, and several flood alerts.
On Tuesday, the Prince of Wales met residents on the Somerset Levels where thousands of hectares of land remain under water and whole villages have been cut off for weeks.
Somerset residents have expressed anger at the pace at which the Environment Agency and the government have responded.
Many said there has been a slow response from the authorities to the flooding, which has affected many parts of the Levels since December.
In Cornwall, the local authority estimated storms had caused more than £4m of damage across the county in the past month.
The Met Office said another band of rain was expected to arrive from the south on Thursday.
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