STORM Eunice brought dangerous gales to York and North Yorkshire, with trees brought down, thousands of people losing their power supplies and snow falling on high ground.

It also resulted in many trains being cancelled or running slow, and York Railway Station - usually thronging on Friday afternoons - was almost deserted.

Firefighters were called to assist at a spate of incidents in the late afternoon as the windy gusts reached their worst.

They went to:

l Dragon Avenue, Harrogate, to make safe a flat roof, that had almost blown off the building due to high winds. Due to the severity of the wind they were unable to assist physically and gave advice to home owner

l Kirkland Close, Selby, after a tree fell onto a property, causing some structural damage. No people were injured or trapped. Crews made the scene safe.

l Burton Road, Low Bentham, where a chimney stack was unsafe due to high winds.

l The A162 at Tadcaster, where crews assisted police in removing a large tree that had fallen onto the road, blocking access. Crews used saws to cut tree apart and removed it.

Power cuts were reported all over York and North and East Yorkshire.

Northern Powergrid said 550 properties in the Wheldrake area, near York, might not get their power supplies back until early today.

However, it stressed that there was significant uncertainty over when it could get people reconnected across the region.

It said: “The storm is causing disruption in the region and relatively high levels of damage to the network, so we are busier than usual – and we still don’t know the full extent of the impact.

“That means there is significant uncertainty about estimated restoration times.”

Other cuts affected 80 properties in Foxwood, York, which were without power for most of the day, 840 properties in Wetherby, 150 homes just south of Pocklington and 270 at Nafferton, near Bridlington.

Meanwhile, a highly-anticipated event in Tadcaster has been postponed due to the weather.

The Tadcaster Bridge Celebration Day, celebrating the fifth anniversary of the completed repairs to the bridge and its reopening after the flooding, was set to take place tomorrow and would have included a market, a lantern parade and more. The event will now take place on the weekend on March 19/20.

Cruise trips on the River Ouse were cancelled yesterday because of the storm.

Kyle Haughton, managing director of City Cruises UK, said it had decided to cancel all sightseeing services as well as its Lunch and Afternoon Tea cruises in London and all operations in Poole and York.

“The safety of our customers and our staff is paramount and all customers impacted by this decision will be offered refunds, free amendments and are being contacted by our reservations team directly.”

The storm also resulted in pedestrians having to negotiate exceptionally windy conditions outside York Minster, where a wind tunnel effect was created.