Two roads will re-open today following the collapse of a restaurant due to stormy weather.

Part of Richmond Road and Rawson Avenue, in Accrington, were closed from 5.45pm on Wednesday after the Al-Hamza restaurant partially collapsed into its car park.

The owner of the restaurant has employed a structural engineer to assess and advise on the condition of the building.

A statement issued by Hyndburn Council this morning said: "In light of that assessment the road will be re-opened later today (Friday September 21) with only a stretch of pavement remaining fenced off for the safety of the public."

The collapse of the restaurant happened on Wednesday afternoon, when Storm Ali battered parts of the UK.

Naz Ali, the owner of Al-Hamza restaurant said he had only left the building 10 minutes before the incident happened.

He said: "I had just finished up and left when I got a call from a neighbour to say part of the apex had collapsed.

"It was scary, there's so much rubble on the floor.

"I'm so glad no one was inside at the time and no one is injured.

"An engineer will be coming in the morning to assess the damage, but I  hope to get everything back to normal as soon as possible.

"The weather has been really, really bad today. The wind has been extremely strong."

Police closed off the road on Wednesday evening and the fire service were also called to the scene.

Inspector Andy Green said: "The building has partially collapsed and remains unstable.

"We believe the damage was caused by the bad weather and not by suspicious activity."

Mr Ali added: "We are on with repairing the damage to the building and we want to move as quickly as possible to get the restaurant re-opened.

"We don't know exactly when this will be, but we will keep you informed of the progress."