Hampshire residents are today picking up the pieces after severe gales brought chaos to the county.

Winds of up to 80 miles an hour along the Solent coast brought down power lines, felled trees and drove rain which flooded roads.

More than 9,000 homes were left without electricity following the severe weather on Sunday morning as falling trees took out power lines across the county.

Areas effected by the power cuts included Langley, Holbury, East Boldre and Beaulieu.

A spokesman for Southern Electric said: "We have had a number of power outages in Hampshire caused by the severe weather.

"Engineers are on site restoring supplies as quickly and as safely as possible. They have been battling against the severe weather, which has made their job more difficult.

"We have had power lines brought down but it has been difficult to locate them because of the weather.

"But they are doing the best they can and the number effected has been greatly reduced."

A game of hockey was cancelled at the Sports Centre in Basset, Southampton, as a tree blown over in the weather lent dangerously over the Astroturf hockey pitch.

Severe overnight rain caused a mudslide closing a section of the M27 eastbound at junction 12 at Portsmouth on Sunday morning.

The motorway was shut at 11.50am for 20 minutes after the mudslide covered the hard shoulder and lanes one and two.

Hampshire Police, Fire and Rescue services, Hampshire Highways Agency and Hampshire County Council helped to clear the road.