VIOLENT storms brought chaos to the Huddersfield area.

Power supplies were cut, trees were felled and buildings were damaged in gusts so strong they made it virtually impossible to walk.

Town's game at Northampton was abandoned when advertising hoardings were blown into the crowd.

And there were lucky escapes as huge trees were felled.

One couple had a lucky escape when a 30ft tree was blown across a busy Huddersfield road on Saturday.

The man and woman from Kirkburton were heading along the A629 Penistone Road at Fenay Bridge at about 4pm when the tree crashed down in front of their Volkswagen Polo.

One of the branches pierced the windscreen.

The 48-year-old male driver had superficial cuts. His 45-year-old wife suffered whiplash and shock.

Huddersfield fire station was called.

Station Officer Alvin Crisp said: "They were extremely lucky. Half a metre further on and they would have been crushed."

A taxi driver saw what was happening and stopped to offer the couple first aid.

The road was shut for about half an hour as emergency crews cleared away the debris, causing severe tailbacks.

The couple were taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary for check-ups.

The incident echoes a tragedy in January, 2002, when two men died after their car was crushed by a huge tree at Berry Brow.

Geoffrey Wood, 75, and Jeffrey Hainsworth, 60, both from Brighouse, were killed when a tree fell on their vehicle at Woodhead Road.

At their inquest, a coroner warned landowners to check trees for signs of disease after hearing how the 10-tonne trunk had been infected with fungus.

A tree blew down across Occupation Road at Lindley, causing minor disruption. No-one was hurt.

Grange Moor and Whitley suffered a six-hour power blackout from 3.30pm after the weather disrupted electricity supplies.

Staff from power line company YEDL worked through the day to restore supplies.

Clr Mark Hemingway, a resident affected by the blackout, said many homes were also damaged by the powerful gusts.

He said in certain spots the power of the wind was phenomenal.

"There was a corner stone off somebody's roof that blew 60ft into a road."

Philip Turner, 62, of Edgerton Green, Edgerton, watched an 80ft-tall tree topple on to his greenhouse at about 3.45pm on Saturday afternoon.

The tree, which was subject to a Tree Preservation Order, was rotten.

"You can get hold of it now and it's like mush," explained Mr Turner.

Kirklees Council needed to be more proactive dealing with suspect trees to avoid tragedy.

An elm tree on his property which blew down in 2002 was rotten, but Kirklees Council did not heed his warnings, he said.

"I rang up the Tree Preservation people and asked if they could take it down. They said no because it was green at the bottom but you could see it was dead at the top."

In Saturday's incident, he watched the tree hit two more before it crushed his greenhouse containing gardening tools and equipment.

"If it had gone the wrong way it could well have gone on my house."

At the Bovis homes development The Pines off Cowrakes Close, Lindley, gusts bowed the roof supports in an end town house under construction. That caused a top-storey wall to collapse, leaving the roof tilting at a 25 degree angle.