THE road between Bentham and Lancaster is expected to be closed for several months after a landslip at the weekend.

Part of the B6480 disappeared into the River Wenning during the torrential rain on Saturday evening.

Highways officials were already investigating cracks which had appeared in the road surface late last week.

Initially, a lane of the road was closed, but, following the landslip, the whole road has had to be closed between Stonegate, Low Bentham, and Ravens Close, Wennington.

Filter bags have been put in the river place to stop any further erosion to the embankment.

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said repairs could not be carried out until the water level fell and the closure was likely to be in place until at least March.

Meanwhile, cars will be diverted along Raven Close and Burton Road and lorries via High Bentham.

The road is also used by the service 80 bus, linking Lancaster and Ingleton.

A spokesman for bus company Stagecoach said: "This service will divert via Ravens Close Brow, the cross roads at Four Lane Ends and Burton Road into Low Bentham where it will then continue its normal route.

"This diversion will be in place for the duration of the road closure."

And the weekend's bad weather also caused problems in Skipton - with one couple having a narrow escape from serious injury.

Robert and Jo-Anne Dixon, from Bolton Abbey, were driving through the town around lunchtime on Sunday when the high winds brought down a tree branch, which went through the back window of their Mitsubishi Outlander.

Jo-Anne Dixon said she was driving up the Bailey, with Robert as a passenger, when there was a loud bang.

"I had just gone over the pelican crossing and initially thought I had hit someone, " said 48-year-old Jo-Anne. "It was such a loud band. There was glass everywhere, in my hair and all over the dashboard."

It was only after they got out the vehicle that they discovered a large branch in the road.

"It had fallen from a great height. If it had gone through the front window, I do not want to think about what could have happened. It just came from nowhere. It was such a shock. I had no idea what had happened and the noise and glass hitting us was so unexpected."