EAST Lancashire is set to be hit by more strong winds and rain for the next couple of days after taking a battering today.

Winds will ease from today's highs of up to 50mph but rain is here to stay all week, according to the Met Office.

Today the winds caused a series of problems across the area.

At the top of Preston New Road and Saunders Road in Blackburn, a tree was ripped out of the ground.

The 20ft tree in the front yard of a house crashed into a nearby wall blocking the pavement.

In Whalley, highways engineers had to close off Portfield Lane near the junction with Accrington Road to carry out repair work after parts of the hedge subsided into the road.

A spokesperson for Lancashire County Council Highways department, said: "I think some rabbits have been tunnelling underneath which has weakened the ground and then the bad weather with the wind and rain has caused it to collapse into the road."

A footpath leading to the Morrisons supermarket in Railway Road, Blackburn, had to be cordoned off after the lantern on a lamppost was blown loose.