LEDBURY experienced a new year washout as the town welcomed in 2014 with a deluge of rain.

Almost 30 millimetres fell on Ledbury and the surrounding areas in the first 24 hours of the new year — more than any day in 2013.

Rain and strong winds are expected to batter the town today, too, although calmer weather may move in next week.

“On New Year’s Day in Malvern, 29.6mm of rain fell from midnight to midnight and I would have thought the figures wouldn’t be too different for Ledbury,” said Malvern-based weather expert Frank Hill.

“The most that fell in one day last year was 28mm.

“It must be close to one of the wettest New Year’s Days on record. It looks like we will have periods of rain and occasionally strong winds through to Tuesday. After that there might be a bit of a break.”

Meanwhile, a brief cold snap just after Christmas may have been responsible for a collision which left the front porch of a pub near Ledbury destroyed.

Liza McBain, manager of The Royal Oak in Much Marcle, was walking her dogs in a field next to the pub early on Boxing Day when the car struck. She said she thought a beer delivery had arrived and had dropped all of its barrels on the floor.

“There were only a few chefs in the pub at that time and luckily everyone was OK although the driver of the car was slightly injured,” she said.

“She is OK now, though she was a bit shaken up. She came back to see us in the afternoon. She is a very, very lucky girl.

“There was black ice on the road and it’s easy to lose control.

I don’t think anyone expected the ice on the roads because it didn’t look white outside at all.”

She said this is the second time in just over a year that the porch has been damaged, with the first incident happening in November 2012 when an old oak tree fell.

“The builders have taken the remains of the porch away as it had to be completely torn down,” she said.

West Mercia Police confirmed a silver Peugeot 206 had collided with the porch of a pub but they did not expect to have any further involvement.