Actors and theatregoers were evacuated when part of a theatre ceiling collapsed as high winds battered Sussex last night.

Chunks of Brighton's Theatre Royal fell during the first act of the Winslow Boy.

The actors, including Bafta-winner Edward Fox, took it in their stride and laughed.

Students from Brighton and Hove High School for Girls were watching as part of their GCSE studies.

Heather Freedman, 14, from Jesmond Road, Hove, said: "I was scared because I thought the roof might come down on my head."

The show will go on tonight.

The gales came on the 15th anniversary of the great hurricane which raged across Sussex and killed four people.

Last night firefighters battled against severe winds for four hours to stop two water tanks on top of a block of flats in Salisbury Road, Hove, crashing on to cars.

The tanks were emptied and removed after coming loose. Also in Hove, an uprooted beach hut was blown across King's Gardens.

Firefighters secured scaffolding and building materials in Ruskin Road and in Brighton they battled against strong winds to tie down loose scaffolding in Royal Crescent, Lewes Crescent, Portland Place and Devonshire Place.

In Worthing, firefighters had to secure part of a roof which had blown away from a house in St Thomas's Road. A tree in Chantry Road split down the middle and had to be made safe by the Highways Agency.

A power line came down in Franklynn Road, Haywards Heath, and was arcing on the road when fire crews arrived.

Eastbourne residents woke to find wheelie bins turned over and litter flying around but no major incidents were reported.