Neighbour raises alert as Storm Katie brings wall crashing down in Portsmouth

The drama unfolded just after midnight in Stubbington Avenue, Copnor, after wind speeds of up to 100mph swept in.

Stubbington Avenue resident Glenn Carter woke up after he heard a chimney across the road collapse.

He then got dressed and raced across to wake up his neighbours so they could get out.

The side wall then came crashing down, leaving bricks and cavity wall insulation strewn everywhere.

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Speaking to The News, Mr Carter, 58, said: ‘It was about 12.30am, I was in bed and the weather was quite bad.

‘I looked out the window, and all of a sudden the chimney went.

‘With that, I got dressed and ran out there and knocked on the windows,

‘A bloke lives on the ground floor and a woman at the top.

‘The woman woke up and I said; “you better get out it doesn’t look safe”.

‘The fella, who is an Italian surgeon, had to get out through his front window as his front door is on the side.’

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Storm Katie slideshow

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Mr Carter brought the residents into his home before they called the emergency services.

He said: ‘I remember the big storm in 1987; when a lot of gable walls came down then. The storm last night was definitely worse than the ones we had last year.’

Storms also ripped off the flat roof of Jacob House, Aylward Street, Portsea, around 7am this morning.

Southsea fire station sent out its aerial ladder platform to deal with both incidents.

A Co-op sign in Elm Grove, Southsea, also became loose and had to be fixed.

Bad weather has also caused problems across other parts of the region overnight.