Sleepless in Pittsburgh

Last night was one of the worst nights with Josh in a very long time.
Up until about a week ago he was pretty good about going to bed. We'd put him in his crib around 8-8:30 with his 2 blankets, "floppy" dog and other various stuffed animal friends and he'd go right to sleep on his own. Then last week it all changed... I think the night we had the high winds. Josh is afraid of loud noises outside when he's trying to go to sleep so rain storms, thunder and wind always keep him up. I can understand why he needed some soothing that night but since then he either fights going to bed and climbs out of his crib repeatedly or wakes up in the middle of the night.
Last night has been the worst so far. He kept climbing out of his crib, running into my room and laughing. After putting him back in his crib a few times I decided to try my mom's idea of putting a gate up in front of his door and forcing him to stay in his room. Her theory was that he would either climb into his big boy bed and go to sleep or fall asleep on the floor. Yeah, that didnt work at all. He just stood at the gate and screamed and cried. After going in there and putting him in the bed many many many times and spanking him at least once I finally rocked him for a bit to settle him down and he went to sleep in his bed at 10pm.
Then at 3:45am he woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep. Again we kept putting him back in his bed over and over again and he kept getting out and standing at the gate and crying. Scott finally got him to go to sleep around 5 or 5:30 by laying with him and rubbing his head.
We are exhausted today and at our wit's end. I don't know what to do with this kid! This can't continue on or else we'll all be very tired and very cranky every day.