STRONG winds will continue to lash North and East Yorkshire tonight as forecasters warn residents to batten down the hatches.

Gusts reached speeds of up to 50mph in the Vale of York in the early hours today, upturning trees, blowing over lorries and damaging roofs.

Although winds are expected to ease during the day, a spokesman for PA WeatherCentre said strong winds would return this evening before easing off on Christmas Eve. Meanwhile, the chances of a white Christmas in York looked less likely as showers were expected to stay on the west side of the country.

"Christmas Day is going to be a cold, crisp day with maximum temperature of four or five degrees centigrade," the spokesman added. "It will be very wintry, but snow is unlikely."

Inspector Mike Thompson, of North Yorkshire Police, said officers were kept busy during a "very windy" night with several vehicles overturning.

He said that heavy goods vehicles tipped over on both north and southbound carriageways of the A1M motorway at the A59 Knaresborough intersection.

Delays were expected as recovery teams were working to remove one vehicle from two lanes of the northbound carriageway today. The second vehicle was taken away overnight.

One driver was taken to York Hospital with minor injuries, a North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service spokesman said.

Julie Young, of Chapelfields Road, York, woke up to find a 15ft tree had been uprooted from her neighbour's garden and blocked her front door and path.

"It's very lucky that nothing has been seriously damaged," she said. "It's knocked over the fence and it's blocking the path. I can hardly get out of the house."

She added: "I didn't hear it go down. That's the funny thing. I didn't know a thing about it until I woke up and found it filling the garden."

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said the A65 was partially blocked by a fallen tree which was removed by a patrol officer.

Updated: 10:01 Thursday, December 23, 2004