Driver has miracle escape after huge oak tree crushes car as Storm Christoph moves in

A driver has had a narrow escape after a huge oak tree toppled over and crushed his car as Storm Christoph started to batter the country.

The front half of the small Fiat 500 was almost buried beneath the hefty tree when it fell across Ixworth Road in Thurston, Suffolk.

Amazingly, the driver managed to escape without any injuries.

Norfolk and Suffolk Roads and Armed Policing Team (NSRAPT) attended the scene, and shared the photos on Twitter just after 6.30am this morning.

The team wrote: "First casualty of the bad weather... this convertible Fiat 500 had an oak tree fall on top of him as he was driving along.

"Amazingly no injuries. Ixworth Road, Thurston is currently closed in both directions.

"Be careful out on the roads! Drive to the conditions."

It comes as the UK braces itself for Storm Christoph, with amber or yellow weather warnings in place for much of the country.

Watch: Driver rescued from flooded vehicle in County Durham

Parts of the UK could see two months’ worth of average rainfall in just two-and-a-half days, forecasters warned.

The unsettled conditions could also bring significant flooding, high winds and snowfall as the storm engulfs the country through the middle of the week.

The Met Office’s most serious weather warning – amber for rain – has been in place across parts of the Midlands and northern England since Tuesday morning, while a less serious yellow warning is in place across the rest of England, parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Met Office forecaster Simon Partridge explained: “It’s not a traditional sort of storm, it’s going to be windy but it’s not based on the wind strength at all, it’s really down to the disruption that’s being caused by rain.

“There are already parts of Cumbria that have already seen over 80mm of rain since midnight on Tuesday and there’s a large number of places that have seen 50mm, and we are going to see further rain over the next 24 to 36 hours.”

As of 5am, the Environment Agency has issued 37 flood warnings and 167 less serious flood alerts across England.

A major incident was declared in both Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire ahead of the expected heavy rainfall.

North Yorkshire County Council said more than 15,000 sandbags were at the ready around the county.

Meanwhile, Public Health England (PHE) issued a cold weather alert from “first thing” on Thursday until 9am on 25 January for the north east, north west and Yorkshire and the Humber.

The agency said the risk of flooding will amplify the public health risks of the severe cold weather.

Watch: Storm Christoph declared as major incident in parts of the UK