A felled tree caused by strong 75mph winds led to chaos for drivers on a County Durham road on Friday (February 17) after a major route ended up blocked off for motorists.

At around 11am, people driving on School Aycliffe Lane and Horndale Avenue towards Newton Aycliffe may have noticed a large build-up of traffic at the mini-roundabout.

After drivers initially thought it was the volume of traffic to blame for the queues, pictures started emerging of a felled tree blocking School Aycliffe Lane.

Read more: Storm Otto Live: North East hit by winds of 75mph

In the image, which was posted to social media, a big tree can be seen laying across both sides of the road and a police vehicle blocking traffic from travelling in both directions. 

Several cars can also be seen parked at the side of the road - clearly in shock from seeing the tree falling, as well as a HGV in the distance of the picture. 

At this time, it's unknown how close the tree came to hitting a vehicle - but the major County Durham route was blocked for several hours to allow the removal of the tree.

It's believed that the incident was caused by Storm Otto, which brought travel disruption and left thousands of homes without power on Friday.

The storm caused trains and flights to be cancelled on Friday morning, with three overturned lorries blocking traffic on the A1(M).

About 19,000 homes were left without power over 143 incidents, Northern Powergrid said. More than 11,000 are said to have since had supplies restored.

A Northern Powergrid spokesperson said: “At present, for customers impacted, we’re hopeful that the majority of customers will have their power restored today, with the potential of a small number that may run into Saturday.”

Durham Police have been contacted about the felled tree.