There was a brief respite from the gale force winds and torrential downpours yesterday – but forecasters warn there is more wet weather to come.

Parts of Essex and Suffolk were battered by winds of up to 65mph and heavy rain on Friday night causing trees to fall, transport chaos as the Orwell Bridge was closed for 11 hours and left thousands of homes in the dark as power supplies were cut.

But yesterday the region woke to bright sunshine with temperatures reaching 9C (48F).

Forecaster Dan Holley, of East Anglia-based Weatherquest, said: “The winds on Friday night, which reached 66pmh in Andrewsfield, Essex, and 59mph in Wattisham, just carried on blowing throughout Saturday.

“Sunday was a bright, dry day until the sun went down.

“Monday is looking like a cloudy morning with patchy rain but I’m hoping things will brighten up in the afternoon.

“There will be more rain at times this week with showers developing on Wednesday with the next spell of wet and potentially windy weather, but not anywhere near as bad as Friday, is set to arrive.”

The wild weather on Friday left more than 2,000 properties in Suffolk and nearly 1,800 in Essex without power. However that number fell to just 16 and 76 respectively yesterday, according to UK Power Networks.

Suffolk police received more than 190 weather-related calls over Friday night and into Saturday morning – mainly for trees and branches in roads.

A safety cordon was put up outside the front of the Marks and Spencer store in Westgate Street, Ipswich, after the winds damaged and loosened roof tiles.

Ipswich Borough Council’s parks and cemeteries were closed Saturday morning to allow for council staff to carry out safety checks while all Saturday’s football matches at Whitton and Gainsborough sports centres and Ipswich Borough Council pitches were cancelled following further pitch inspections.

There was also minor disruption on some Greater Anglia rail services with a number of trains delayed due to obstructions on the lines.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service control room said they received more than 100 calls to incidents ranging from trees in the roads, fallen power cables, a crane in a precarious position and roofs blowing off properties.

The B1022 in Tiptree and Beckingham Road in Tolleshunt D’arcy were left blocked by fallen trees in the carriageway while a tree caused power lines to fall in Great Yeldham.