Motorists are facing traffic chaos this morning due to firefighters' strikes at Sellafield and last night's severe weather.

Traffic is backed up along the A595 to the nuclear plant with GMB members picketing at all five of the site's gates.

The firefighters planned a 12-and-a-half hour strike between 6am and 6.30pm after it failed to come to an agreement with the nuclear site's management.

GMB senior organiser Chris Jukes said the situation was "regrettable" but the issue had not been resolved.

He said: "Sellafield Ltd management made what GMB believed was an offer in good faith a couple of months ago to resolve this dispute, which dates back years, by introducing a warm zone allowance by the end of September.

"Management have broken their promises with the latest offer at the end of last week."

But a Sellafield spokesman said: "The safety and security of the Sellafield site, our workforce and the local community are our priorities during this industrial action.

"In an unprecedented step, the GMB has decided not to provide safety cover during this strike. As a result, we’ve made arrangements for a private sector provider to supply this.

"The company’s firefighters have extensive experience and have undergone specific training ahead of working at Sellafield.

"We are aware that the local road network is already under pressure and we’ve taken every step possible to avoid adding to the disruption.

"This includes opening every available gate to the site and reminding employees they can work flexibly where possible."

Ex-hurricane Ophelia struck the county last night causing further disruption. Cumbria Police attended numerous incidents overnight relating to the high winds.

While Electricity North West says 16,000 homes had a power cut across the region last and extra engineers have been drafted in to sort out the problems.

A road at Haile, near Egremont, is also closed because of a fallen tree.