BATTEN down the hatches once more - gale force winds and rain are heading for Hampshire tonight.

The Met Office has issued yet another severe weather warning for tomorrow (Monday) as a looming weather front bears down on the region just days after the Christmas storms.

Gusts of up to 70mph are set to hit the county in the early hours as a low pressure front advances from the Atlantic Ocean.

The strong south westerly gales are likely to disrupt travel services throughout the morning as many people return to work.

Most of the heavy rain is likely to have eased off before it reaches Hampshire, with counties in the South West bearing the brunt of the deluge and winds easing in the afternoon.

But a second severe weather warning is in force for New Year's Day when a second bout of heavy rain hits the county at 9am and lasts throughout the day.

It comes just days after torrential rain and gale force winds brought flooding, damage and blackouts across the county.

Southern Electric Power Distribution has restored electricity to thousands of Hampshire homes hit by power cuts.

But some neighbourhoods are experiencing disruptions due to severe damage to power lines by high winds and uprooted trees.

The company is today dispatching helicopters to survey the network.

Distribution director Stuart Hogarth said engineers have worked through some of the worst conditions ever to restore power and added: “Our staff are still working in the areas affected to restore the electricity network to normal.

“We would like to thank our customers for their patience particularly at this time of year while we restored the electricity to their homes and the teams who have worked so hard.

Because of the rural nature of our area we needed many staff to reach small numbers of outlying customers.

We are now concentrating our efforts over the coming days to continue our restoration work on parts of our network which have been severely.”