Severe weather batters the North West and IOM

Electricity North West says it's restored power to the remaining few customers affected by the severe weather.

At the peak of the storm on Wednesday night 11,000 properties were without power.

More than 400 engineers worked around the clock carrying out repairs.

Blackpool is open for business.

That's the message from the Prime Minister today, who's been visiting people in the resort who've been affected by this weeks atrocious weather.

He' s been seeing for himself the damage caused and has met members of the emergency services.

Our reporter Ralph Blunsom was in Blackpool earlier:-

The family of a man who died after a road crash in Macclesfield have paid tribute to him.

Police and other emergency services were called to Farm Lane, Lower Withington at 7.12am yesterday.

When police arrived, a tree was partially in the road, and a Volkswagen Golf had collided with a Range Rover.

The driver of the Volkswagen, 33-year-old Dan Barlow, died at the scene.

The front seat passenger, a 46-year-old woman had to be released from the car by Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service and was taken to Wythenshawe Hospital with serious but not life threatening injuries.

Dan's family said: "A dedicated and loving family man, adored by his wife, two daughters, mum and dad, sister and dearly loved by all who knew him. A keen mountain biker and musician. He devoted his life to helping other people as a pain nurse."

The driver of the Ranger Rover, a 43-year-old woman was taken to Macclesfield Hospital to be checked over and discharged the same day.

The Met Office has issued a snow warning for Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Cumbria.

Forecasters say between two and five centimetres could fall between midday and midnight on ground about 250m.

Electricity North West say they've successfully restored power to more than 19,500 customers since the severe weather hit our region on Wednesday evening.

In a news release they the say:

"We have more than 400 engineers working and we have also drafted in extra engineers who have been working around the clock repairing the damage and they will continue to work to get the

remaining 215 customers back on as soon as possible. We’re currently aware of 70 faults and when we make one repair we may discover further faults on the same circuits.

At the peak of the storm on Wednesday night, which followed a Met Office red weather warning for wind, 11,000 properties were without power across the North West.

Conditions made it difficult for engineers to access sites due to trees blocking roads, and the wind also prevented linesmen in some areas from climbing poles to restore supplies.

The wind had blown trees and debris into overhead power lines and snapped electricity poles in a number of areas.

In daylight we discovered that the extreme wind has caused more damage than expected, meaning that there are multiple repairs needed on some lines but we assure customers we are continuing to work around the clock to repair the damage and restore supplies as quickly as possible."

A major clear up operation is underway after the North West was battered by gale force winds.

At its peak about 11 thousand homes lost power supplies and Greater Manchester Police took more than one thousand calls.

Dozens of trees blew over with some crashing through homes and on to cars. A man died this morning in Cheshire after he swerved to avoid a fallen tree.

And in Old Trafford, dozens of people were trapped in their homes when part of an apartment block collapsed.

Rob Smith reports.

Liverpool council has confirmed the cordon round one of the city's main streets has been lifted.

It had been closed off in yesterday's stormy weather because of falling debris from St John's centre.

A man has died in Cheshire after swerving to avoid a tree in a road and crashing into another car.

Police and other emergency services were called to Farm Lane, Lower Withington in Macclesfield at 7.12am on Thursday 13 February 2014.

When officers arrived they found a tree partially in the road and a Volkswagen Golf collided with a Range Rover.

The 33-year-old driver of the Volkswagen died at the scene.

The front seat passenger, a 46-year-old woman had to be released from the car by Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service and was taken to hospital.

The man's next of kin have been informed.

The driver of the Ranger Rover, a 43-year-old woman was taken to hospital to be checked over.

This is the scene at the Empress Mill in Old Trafford after the entire staircase blew down in the strong winds last night. The debris collapsed on top of cars and residents say they were unable to get in or out of their homes.