Sky Sports presenter Keith Downie narrowly avoids being crushed by ancient oak tree

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Britain was today counting the cost of Storm Malik after it left a trail of destruction in its wake and saw powerful gusts nearing 150mph batter the country. 

Homes were left destroyed and debris lay scattered in the streets this morning after winds topping 100mph were recorded in parts of Scotland on Saturday, with one meteorologist claiming to have seen speeds of 147mph at Cairngorm summit in the Scottish Highlands. 

And a nine-year-old boy died in hospital after being hit by a falling tree in Winnothdale, near to Tean, in Staffordshire yesterday. 

Pictures taken in South Shields, Tyneside also showed the devastation Storm Malik wreaked on Saturday morning, with one stunned motorist discovering his £25,000 Range Rover had been destroyed by flying debris.

As the ferocious winds continued yesterday, a Jet2 flight from Malaga was forced to abandon its landing at Manchester Airport and had to divert to East Midlands Airport, where it was able to successfully land.

Northern Powergrid also warned of severe disruption to energy supplies and mobile phone coverage throughout Saturday, with safety advice around potential power cuts also being issued by Scotland’s provider SP Energy.  

The latest scene came as the Met Office warned that Storm Corrie, which is set to bring winds of 90mph to parts of northern England, would hit the country later today.  

It is set to move eastwards across Scotland on Sunday and push across the North Sea in the early hours of Monday.   

Chief Meteorologist, Dan Suri, said: ‘Storm Corrie will bring very strong winds to the north of the UK, especially northern Scotland, on Sunday. This follows just one day after Storm Malik moves though also bringing a spell of very strong winds.

‘Storm Corrie will bring gusts of up to 90mph in exposed coastal locations in northern Scotland, with 70-80mph gusts more widely in the north. With back-to-back storms there could be updates to severe weather warnings, so keep an eye on the Met Office forecast.’ 

Today Sky Sports presenter Keith Downie revealed how his brand new BMW was crushed by a huge tree after it fell through the roof during Storm Malik.

Mr Downie said he had been left ‘badly shaken but still alive’ after the ancient oak crashed through his car windscreen yesterday. 

The channel’s North East reporter shared shocking photographs on social media showing a bough stuck in the vehicle as well as extensive damage to the interior.

Downie, who is from Glasgow but lives in Newcastle, said he was thankful to have escaped his BMW – which appeared to be a 4 Series Coupé worth £40,000 – without getting injured.

He tweeted: ‘How’s everyone’s Saturday? Thankfully I’m safe but things could’ve been a lot worse.’ He later added on Instagram: ‘Badly shaken today but still alive. Poor car only lasted three months… but it can be replaced.’

Today, the presenter told Sky News: ‘I’m currently stood outside the back of my house. That’s my driveway just behind.

‘You can probably see just over my shoulder a couple of cars in the driveway there. Both of them pretty much written off after that huge tree that you can see there behind me, I think it’s probably about 100ft in height, broke off during the storm yesterday morning and fell down onto the side of the house.

‘It bounced off the side wall there and careered through both of the cars.

‘It’s a scene of utter devastation I have to say. 

‘I was pretty badly shaken all day yesterday knowing how close that I was to it when it came down and I suppose aided by the fact that I’m working tomorrow and it’s transfer deadline day for Sky Sports News and I cover Newcastle United and I’m expecting it to be a busy day as far as potential transfer business is concerned.

‘I live in my car, I work in my car, it’s essentially my office and sadly it’s not me that’s in it right now, there’s a 100ft tree pierced through the front window right through and out the back again.

‘It’s like a scene off a movie set I have to say. It’s quite upsetting to look at and thankfully nobody was hurt but I have to say it was a pretty close call yesterday morning. ‘

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon Sturgeon chaired a Scottish Government resilience meeting on Saturday as winds of more than 100mph were recorded. 

Meanwhile Police were called to Winnothdale, near to Tean, at 1pm on Saturday after reports a tree had fallen on a boy and a man, and they were both taken to the Royal Stoke University Hospital.

A spokesman said: ‘Sadly, despite the best efforts of medical staff, a nine-year-old boy passed away. 

‘The boy’s family are being supported by specially-trained officers. The man remains in hospital.

‘A scene remains at the location, where people are asked to avoid the area. The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.’

The boy’s death comes after a 60-year-old woman was killed by a falling tree in Aberdeen as strong winds from Storm Malik battered northern parts of the UK.

Police Scotland said emergency services were called to Deveron Road in Aberdeen on Saturday at around 10.30am to reports of a sudden death of a 60-year-old woman. 

A spokesman said: ‘There are no suspicious circumstances. A report will now be sent to the Procurator Fiscal.’ Winds of more than 100mph were reported in Scotland, with widespread disruption to travel and power supplies.

Pictures taken in South Shields, Tyneside also showed the devastation Storm Malik wreaked on Saturday morning, with one stunned motorist discovering his £25,000 Range Rover destroyed by debris.

Father-of-two Russel Choudary, 40, had just moved his pristine white car to the opposite side of his street in South Shields to protect it from slates which had plummeted to the ground from his neighbour’s house.

But as soon as he parked the Range Rover, gale force winds caused dozens of bricks to cascade onto his 4×4, completely destroying it and leaving him distraught.

‘If I had moved it a minute earlier, I would have been killed’, he explained. 

‘No sooner did I reach my front door, the bricks came crashing down. I could have been inside that car. It doesn’t bear thinking about.

‘There’s no way I would have survived. I feel very lucky to be alive.’    

Weather warnings were in place across all of Scotland, northern England and parts of Northern Ireland for most of Saturday due to the high winds and rain.

The Met Office have said that another blast of severe strong winds, now officially named Storm Corrie, is set to hit parts of the UK.

It is set to move eastwards across Scotland on Sunday and push across the North Sea in the early hours of Monday.

The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for wind across northern parts of Scotland from Sunday into Monday morning. 

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon described the impact of Storm Malik as ‘severe’. She warned once Malik subsides Storm Corrie may be more severe’ than first anticipated in parts of the north and north-east of Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon also said in a statement on Twitter that some Scots could be without power over the weekend. As of 10pm Saturday, SSEN said 23,000 households were without power, with the agency moving to ‘red alert’ status.

A major incident was declared in County Durham on Saturday to deal with the devastation caused by Storm Malik.

On Saturday power supplies and mobile phone coverage were affected. Northern Powergrid said the storm had caused disruption and its teams were restoring power through alternative routes on its network ‘where possible, assessing damage and co-ordinating repairs wherever conditions permit’.

SP Energy Networks, the company responsible for electricity transmission in central and southern Scotland, issued safety advice around potential power cuts.

It said customers should keep a battery or wind-up torch to hand and keep mobile phones fully charged, and people should also beware of fallen power lines.

Network Rail said fallen trees had caused numerous services to be cancelled, including Inverness to Thurso, Perth to Aberdeen, Aberdeen to Dundee and Glasgow Queen Street to Oban.

Two Scottish Premiership games were postponed, with matches between Aberdeen and St Johnstone and Dundee and St Mirren called off due to safety concerns around the stadiums.

A statement on Aberdeen’s website read: ‘We have been working closely with emergency services and the SPFL throughout the morning, closely monitoring the situation in the hope that conditions might improve to allow the game to be staged, but ultimately the safety of supporters, players and staff is our paramount concern and we would ask everyone to continue to adhere to the guidance being given by Police Scotland.’

The Scottish Premiership confirmed that Dundee’s game at Dens Park was off due to high winds.

The Championship game between Arbroath and Partick Thistle was also cancelled with no new dates set for the games.

Residents in the west end of Glasgow were also evacuated from there homes over fears the high winds had exacerbated existing structural issues with the towers of Old Trinity College.

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council told the PA news agency that it would likely be ‘considerably longer than 24 hours’ before residents could return home.

Residents in the west end of Glasgow were also evacuated from there homes over fears the high winds had exacerbated existing structural issues with the towers of Old Trinity College.