Hundreds of motorists are trapped in their vehicles during today's blistering heatwave after a fallen telegraph pole led to the closure of a portion of the M5 earlier today.
Traffic England is reporting delays of up to 50 minutes on the southbound carriageway between J22 (Burnham-on-Sea) and J23 (Bridgwater).
And people have taken to social media to complain of 'delays everywhere' and roads now resembling 'car parks' as jams build up.
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Around 10.30am, Highways England announced it was closing the motorway in on the popular route.
It took around one hour to reopen the M5 but traffic has still not recovered from the incident - more than four hours later.
There is approximately ten miles of tailbacks on the route as residents make a dash for the South West's beaches as the mercury climbs to a scorching 31C.
A spokesperson for Highways England said: “The full road closure is due to a infrastructure repair and Highways England has resources deployed working hard to restore normal conditions as soon as possible."
One woman said it took her one and a half hours to travel from Portishead to Junction 22, where she came off the motorway.
She says the A38 is “a car park now” as motorists from both directions use the route as a diversion.
Another person said there were "delays everywhere" as hundreds of motorists attempted to avoid the closure.
