Gale-force winds and heavy rain have brought flooding and damage to Britain as forecasters predicted the worst storm of the year so far.

Winds in excess of 80mph, strong enough to cause damage including bringing down trees and branches, are expected to intensify this morning as the storm sweeps across the UK, forecasters said.

Wales, southern and eastern England are likely to bear the brunt of the storm, but winds could reach a "rare" 70mph inland in London and the Home Counties, Daniel Adamson, a forecaster with MeteoGroup UK, the weather division of the Press Association, said.

"It will be pretty severe," he said. "It's quite rare for the winds to be that strong inland, it certainly doesn't happen very often."

A fallen tree today blocked Mill Lane in Kings Sutton, near Banbury.

Heavy rain has already led to coastal flooding and more can be expected across southern England and Wales, he said.

The rain and winds are then expected to ease on Sunday before giving us another battering on Monday, posing the risk of disruption to the return to work after the weekend, forecasters said.

The storm developed off the west coast and was fed by the still-warm autumn sea temperatures, he said.

The wild weather has already caused disruption in some areas of the country.

Passengers faced delays and cancellations after the heavy rain caused rocks to slide on to rail tracks, closing a busy line in the Chepstow area of south east Wales. Services running between Newport and Gloucester were affected, along with cross-country trains between Nottingham and Cardiff with buses replacing trains.

In Sussex, workers stranded by flood water in four units on the Burrell Road industrial estate, in Haywards Heath, were rescued by boats.