A severe storm which struck Sussex overnight was this morning starting to cause structural damage.

A beach hut at Goring, Worthing, was smashed to pieces and hundreds of metres of security fencing around piles of wood from the Ice Prince wreck on the town's beaches lay twisted and buckled.

A fleet of lorries had been expected to begin taking the timber off the seafront, starting at Merton Road, at 6am today, but operations were postponed due to the ferocious gale, which was expected to peak at around lunchtime today.

An awning was ripped from the front of the Tangerine bar, Marine Parade, Worthing, and blown across the road towards the Pavilion Theatre.

A decorative regal crown, about one-and-a-half feet tall and made of fibre glass, was ripped from its mounting above Connaught Leisure amusement arcade in Marine Parade, Worthing.

The streets were littered with debris from trees and rubbish blown out of recycling bins.

Worthing firefighters said they had been called to a series of "minor" incidents overnight, ranging from loose roof tarpaulins to unsafe scaffolding.

It was feared locally that this could be the worst storm to hit the town since 1999.

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