Forecasters have issued severe weather warnings across many regions of the UK with powerful gusts of wind causing travel disruption.

Rescue teams assisted a 40ft yacht with an injured crew member onboard in heavy seas off Kent.

The Liquid Vortex has seven crew on board, with five suffering with sea sickness, and one with a possible injury to his jaw and ribs after sustaining a fall on the yacht.

It made an emergency call off Deal just after 5am.

Dover Coastguard called out rescue teams from Margate and RNLI lifeboats from Dungeness and Dover were requested to launch together with a rescue helicopter.

The vessel was travelling from Southampton to London.

Meanwhile, ferry services from Dover have been hit, with P&O reporting delays on the Dover to Calais route. Passengers are advised to check with the Port before setting off.

In the west of the county a van driver in his 50s has died today after his vehicle was crushed by an oak tree during high winds in Sandhurst Road, Tunbridge Wells.
 

The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

A male passenger in the vehicle is understood to have escaped unharmed.

Police said they believed that his vehicle was stationary at the time.

There are fears that another tree in the road may topple and the road has been closed. Drivers are being advised to avoid the area.

And in Folkestone a fallen tree has blocked Cherry Garden Avenue. It is not known whether anyone was injured.

Cherry Garden Avenue   Photo: Max Hess

The QEII Bridge on the M25 between Essex and Kent at Dartford was shut after the Highways Agency said it was too dangerous to let traffic across.

It is hoped the bridge will reopen later today but there is congestion on both sides of the river stretching back to junction three on the Kent side.

Fallen trees and flooding also caused problems on many roads in Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

Hawkinge Gazette and Channel Coast News 2012©