THE Great Yarmouth area is bracing itself for the worst storm of the year so far with gale-force winds threatening to batter the region over the weekend.

THE Great Yarmouth area is bracing itself for the worst storm of the year so far with gale-force winds threatening to batter the region over the weekend.

With the unsettled weather set to continue well into next week, forecasters are warning the winds could cause enough damage to bring down trees and branches.

The worst of the weather is expected at around midday tomorrow (Saturday) when gusts along the east coast, particularly around Great Yarmouth and Hemsby, could reach in excess of 60 miles per hour.

Coastguards are issuing shipping warnings for gales up to violent storm force 11 for the Norfolk and north Suffolk coastline and strongly advising mariners to act accordingly or face wave heights over 11 metres.

Ian Haines, watch officer at Great Yarmouth coastguard, said while the RNLI was always ready to assist in emergencies, getting people off boats in those conditions was extremely hazardous.

And while there may be some respite over Sunday, the wind and some heavy rain is due to return in the early hours of Monday morning and throughout the week.

Chris Bell, forecaster at UEA based Weatherquest, said while the east will fare better than other regions the outlook was wet and windy.

“The rain we expect for tonight should clear by tomorrow morning but it is the wind that will be the main problem as it increases through Saturday,” he said.

“The coastal areas will have winds in excess of 50 or 60 miles per hour and the rest of the county could see gusts up to 40 or 50 miles per hour.”

He said that although winds on Thursday night seemed strong they actually only peaked at around 30 miles per hour.

“The winds will ease down on Sunday but then another spell of rain is expected Sunday night and Monday morning which could be quite heavy. It will stay unsettled until at least Thursday when it may calm down a bit.”

He said that while the current weather conditions were not unusual for November they had come as a bit of a shock after the near-drought conditions of September and October.

“Most people thought that the nice spell of weather was great but half our customers are farmers and they were complaining every day,” he said. “I spoke to one farmer the other day who said that the ground is still very dry just eight inches under the topsoil so he was very happy that we are now getting some decent amounts of rain.”