A NEW yellow weather alert has been issued by the UK Met Office for strong winds across the whole of Somerset this weekend (December 30-31).

It will be in place from 11 am on Saturday (December 30) until 3 am on New Year's Eve, and covers not just Somerset but the whole Westcountry, and other areas of the country.

A spokesperson said: “An active cold front will move east across England and Wales during Saturday and into Sunday and will be characterised by strong winds and some heavy rain.

“Gusts of 45-50 mph widely, but squally near the cold front with some gusts around 60 mph, while the strongest gusts are likely near coasts in the west and south, with 65-75 mph in places.”

The alert comes just two days after Storm Gerrit caused disruption across Somerset with some minor road flooding and trees brought down.

The Met Office said the severe weather was likely to result on some delays to road, rail, air, and ferry transport and some coastal routes, sea fronts, and coastal communities would be affected by spray and/or large waves.

Bus and train journeys would probably take longer, and some short-term power outages could be experienced.

Meanwhile, the Environment Agency on Friday afternoon (December 29) lifted flood alerts for the Rivers Tone, Exe, Culm, and Clyst.

However, a spokesperson said water levels in the River Tone might rise again and the flood alert could be re-issued over the weekend as the weather remained unsettled and further rain was forecast for Saturday (December 30).

The spokesperson said the River Exe was falling below levels of concern on Friday, but further heavy rain forecast for the next couple of days could see water levels rise again and a new flood alert issued if necessary.

It was a similar picture for communities in the Culm Valley where an alert could be issued again if rainfall saw river levels start to rise.

People can check for flood warnings and alerts on the internet here.