Pembrokeshire County Council staff worked hard overnight clearing away fallen trees, debris and roof tiles, in a bid to get traffic moving around the county again today.

Highways and area maintenance teams worked until 11pm, starting again at 5.30am this morning, dealing with more than 150 reports of trees, large branches and debris.

The County Council’s contact centre usually receives around 1,100 phone calls on a normal Wednesday. Yesterday it received 3,184 calls - more than 2,000 extra.

There were 150 reports of damage to property, council infrastructure, schools, utilities infrastructure and street lights.

At 3pm there were 26 road closures in place. Council crews also helped deal with eight flooding incidents and two oil spills.

A total of 25 schools closed early due to the severe weather.

On Tuesday and Wednesday alone, the Council’s Facebook page had more than a thousand new likes, and the Twitter account gained another thousand followers. Comments on Twitter included: ‘Thank you for the constant updates, a job well done’ and ‘fab updates all day, really appreciated’.

“Staff across the Council rose to the challenge of the extreme weather yesterday and worked exceptionally hard to try and keep people safe and get the county moving again. I’m sure the people in the county would join me in thanking them for their valued efforts,” said Leader of the County Council, Councillor Jamie Adams.

“All in all, it was a very busy day for the employees of Pembrokeshire County Council.”

Register for email notifications for school closures and stay up to date during bad weather by visiting www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk and registering for ‘My Account’.