SWANSEA escaped the worst of the weather sweeping the south of Britain as the fierce ‘St Jude’ storm passed through.

The widespread flooding and hurricane force winds that were forecast for the Swansea area failed to materialise.

Some lectures were cancelled ahead of the storm and the university issued a warning to students to follow advice issued by the police and Met Office.

Meanwhile, student letting agency SAS warned its residents to make sure all windows and doors were secured, in a preemptive move to avoid preventable damage.

A tree closed a lane of Oystermouth Road eastbound for a short while on Sunday and was later cut down due to damage from high winds.

Some flooding and high winds affected the Cardiff and Newport areas, with the strongest gust of wind recorded at 44 mph at St Athan.

The storm has battered south east England, with the Met Office recording a gust of 99 mph on the Isle of Wight.

The St Jude storm comes just days after the 26th anniversary of Michael Fish’s infamous ‘no hurricane’ forecast, which later turned out to be the worst storm to hit the UK since 1703.