Heavy winds are battering Sussex with thousands of homes losing electricity, street signs coming down and trains being cancelled – but forecasters warn the worst is yet to come.

Winds hit speeds of more than 50mph earlier with forecasters anticipating gusts of up to 80 to 90mph tomorrow.

The emergency services have warned people only to go out if it is essential.

In Peacehaven and Newhaven thousands of homes were affected this morning after their electricity was cut off.

A UK Power Networks spokeswoman said: “Engineers were called to Blakeney Avenue, Peacehaven, at 7.49am in response to reports of a power cable hanging low.

“In order to repair it in safely we temporarily turned off power to 1,106 customers in the area from 8.39am. Half were restored at 9.41am and the rest at 11.31am and we would like to thank people for their patience while the repair was completed.”

Heavy winds also led to Littlehampton’s firework display being cancelled last night on the advice of West Sussex Fire and Rescue for only the third time in 20 years.

The Highways Agency issued advice on travelling in windy conditions.

Southern Trains announced it would not be running any services this morning until it could be certain the lines were safe.

A statement on its website said: “Extremely high winds are expected during the early morning of Monday.

“As a result, Network Rail has declared that there is a high risk of trees and debris falling onto railway lines and as a consequence, it may be unsafe to run trains while the winds persist.

“Therefore, Southern and Gatwick Express services will not run until it has been declared safe to do so.”

First Capital Connect has also said it will not be running any services before at least 9am.

Bin collections in Brighton and Hove, across East Sussex, and in Adur, Worthing and Crawley have all been suspended tomorrow.

Tom Scanlon, Brighton and Hove director of public health,  said:  “We're asking residents not to put out their refuse and recycling until midday on Monday to keep residents and staff as safe as possible during the storm and to minimise the impact of the high winds on the city.

"We are expecting the storm to pass through on Monday so we hope to get collections back to normal as soon as possible.”

Brighton and Hove buses has also warned services may be disrupted.

Helen Chivers, forecaster for the Met Office, said the worst of the storm would hit at around 5am.

She added: “First we will get the torrential rain. That should be around 9pm and it will continue until midnight.

“Then at about 4am to 5am you will get the strong gusts.

“They will be in the region of 70 mph to 80mph and in some more exposed areas up to 85mph to 90mph.

“They will start to die down around 11am and the speeds should fall off fairly rapidly after that.”

*The Argus is looking for weather watchers across Sussex to tell us about what is happeneing in their neighbourhood.

Our weather watchers will send us photos and accounts of the wild weather and how it is affecting where they live.

All their reports will be featured in our live blog on the storm which will begin on Monday morning.

If you want to get involved and help us make sure we have your local neighbourhood covered, email peter.truman@theargus.co.uk.