Four dead as storm devastates UK Four people, including a 17-year-old girl, have died after hurricane-force conditions battered Britain. Hundreds of thousands of homes have also been left without power and travellers have suffered transport chaos. The bodies of two people were found in west London after a falling tree led to a suspected gas explosion. A 51-year-old man died as he drove through Watford in southeast England, and 17-year-old Bethany Freeman was killed as she slept in a static caravan. Bethany was crushed as a nine-metre tree fell on the caravans she and her family were living in while renovation work was taking place at their home in Kent. The amber warning was lifted as the heart of the storm blew over the North Sea to continental Europe, leaving a trail of destruction and disruption behind it. Winds of up to 160km/h had swept through much of southern England, first hitting land in the early hours of Monday morning. The storm, dubbed St Jude after the patron of lost causes, caused traffic problems on road, rail, air and sea. Many train services were cancelled and some were still struggling to return to normal late in the afternoon. Some 300,000 homes suffered power cuts. Experts say that, while the gales had been relatively weak compared with the Great Storm of 1987, it shows how much weather predictions have improved compared with 26 years ago.