A SOUTHAMPTON library will be closed for the rest of the year after it was damaged by strong winds last night.

Hampshire escaped the full brunt of the overnight storm, which caused the worst damage in the South West.

But strong gusts dislodged a temporary cover on Portswood Library, Portswood Road, and rain seeped into part of the building.

The cover was put on last month to let builders carry out renovation work.

A city council spokesman said: "They had it there to protect the library against the weather but it all went last night.

"One of the issues now is health and safety so it will now be closed for all the repairs to be completed.

"It wouldn't be safe to open it at the moment, so it will be closed until further notice."

He added that the repairs would take at least two weeks to finish but that no serious damage was caused by the rain.

The nearest library, in Burgess Road, Upper Shirley, will now be open for longer hours to compensate for the closure.

The spokesman said: "The Burgess Road library doesn't normally open on Tuesday's but it will now be open from 10am-7pm."

Portswood librarian Tim Chambre said the cover had come off at around 3.30pm yesterday.

"We had to remove books and cover the floor with plastic sheeting and two of us were here till 8pm last night putting it down," he said.

"We came in this morning with a certain apprehension but it wasn't too bad as the heating had come on and soaked up a lot of the water."