OVERWHELMING demand in an unexpected crisis situation - how do you cope with it?

The answer from the authorities over the gale that paralysed the town is: as well as they could have hoped.

The January 18 storm killed 11 people in Britain, only five less than the famous storm in 1987.

The sustained winds of up to 73mph and gusts approaching 100mph have left a legacy still being cleared up two months on.

The roads: Two problems hit Warrington - the closure of the M6 at 11.56am after a lorry overturned and trees blocked roads.

The M6 closure was two hours old before joined-up emergency operations swung into action with the declaration Silver Command'.

Teresa Whitfield, from the council's emergency planning department, said: "If the motorways had remained open the council would have stood a fighting chance of clearing the trees which were causing a problem.

"The volume of traffic due to the combination of problems on surrounding networks made the situation impossible - gridlock was inevitable.

"The A49 may have been the most affected road as there were two trees down on Winwick Road between Long Lane and Cromwell Avenue for a long period and then, following this being re-opened, a tree fell on a gas main resulting in Newton Road being closed near B&Q."

An ad-hoc solution was found to the problem of fallen trees.

Chf Supt Chris Richards, from Cheshire Police, said: "We improvised with some novel approaches to deal with problems.

"In Warrington the creation of lumberjack' teams, consisting of police officers and council staff, dispatched by the Warrington Silver Commander, worked very well and will be built into our future plans, which will all be reviewed and revised."

Council tree surgeons dealt with 400 damaged and dangerous trees, and three times that were cleared by private tree surgeons.

Closing the M6 sends an extra 25-60,000 vehicles into Warrington. Police are also working on an early warning system for Thelwall Viaduct.

The police and fire service: The first police call was at 11.02am - a report of a tree blocking a road in Lymm. It was the first of 142 calls in Warrington.

Chf Supt Chris Richards said: "The number of 999 calls to the police increased ten fold.

"For three hours on the day the force had more than 250 an hour. We knew winds were forecast. However, alongside all the other agencies, the strength of the winds was not anticipated."

The first fire service call was at 9.32am - a report of a man trapped in his car by floodwater at Dallam Bridge. Another 53 calls came during the day.

Business: Croft Engineering in Taylor Business Park, near Culcheth, was the worst hit place in town.

A 2,000m square section of roof was blown off and six employees were injured, and some are still not back in work after suffering broken bones.

The company is back on site but it will be another 10 weeks before the roof is finally fixed.

Paul Taylor, from Taylor Business Park, said: "We are still getting the figures together for the cost, but it's close to six figures."

The borough council's economic unit said it is too early to give an exact cost of the storm.