Storm Eowyn caused extraordinary travel chaos across Britain today as 92mph winds cancelled 300 flights, shut hundreds of schools and halted all trains in Scotland.

Rare red warnings were issued for Scotland and Northern Ireland as the storm posed a danger to life – damaging buildings, uprooting trees and causing power cuts.

At least 334 flights have been axed at airports in Aberdeen, Belfast, Edinburgh and Glasgow due to the severe conditions, with about 50,000 passengers affected.

The top UK wind gust has been 93mph at Aberdaron in Wales, followed by 92mph at Killowen in County Down – while 114mph in Ireland was the country’s fastest ever.

Train operator ScotRail suspended all services across Scotland today, warning it ‘would not be safe to operate passenger services due to forecast weather conditions’.

Other train companies including LNER, Avanti West Coast, Lumo, CrossCountry and Grand Central told customers not to travel on routes across parts of North Wales, Scotland and northern England with no Anglo-Scots services running today.

Northern said many of its routes were shut because of severe weather, with lines blocked between Manchester Oxford Road and Warrington because of a fallen tree.

Services were also disrupted by the severe conditions between Bradford and Ilkley; Bradford and Skipton; Leeds and Bradford; Leeds and Ilkley; and Leeds and Skipton.

Glasgow Airport had 40 departures and 41 arrivals axed, as well as 74 departures and 72 arrivals cancelled at Glasgow. At Belfast International there were 16 departures and 16 arrivals suspended, along with 23 departures and 20 arrivals at Belfast City.

 

 

 

 

 

Aberdeen cancelled 25 departures and 25 arrivals, while Dublin Airport announced more than 110 scheduled departures and 110 arrivals have been cancelled today.

Calmac Ferries on Scotland’s west coast and Steam Packet Ferries between Heysham and the Isle of Man both said today’s planned sailings had been cancelled.

Passengers and motorists in areas covered by red and amber weather warnings have been told to avoid travel ‘unless absolutely essential’ – with millions urged to stay at home in the worst-hit regions after receiving emergency alerts on their phones.

Hundreds of schools were shut today including 120 in Aberdeenshire, 43 in the Highlands, 42 in Northern Ireland, 30 in Northumberland and seven in Cumberland.

Glasgow City Council said all of its school and nurseries were closed, while Edinburgh Council shut all schools. Argyll and Bute and the Scottish Borders closed all schools – while in Wales, more than 30 in Anglesey and two in Gwynedd were shut.

Red warnings for wind were issued by the Met Office in Northern Ireland from 7am until 2pm today, and for western and central areas of Scotland between 10am and 5pm.

Gusts of 80 to 90mph are expected widely inland in the warning areas, with speeds of up to 100mph likely along coasts, the forecaster said. Additionally, a red warning is in place for the Isle of Man until 2pm.

Amber wind warnings are also in place for Northern Ireland, the southern half of Scotland, northern England and north Wales between 6am and 9pm today, and the northern half of Scotland from 1pm today to 6am tomorrow.

Winds reaching 60 to 70mph will be widespread in these warning areas.

There is a yellow wind warning covering most of the UK for the entirety today.

Smaller yellow warnings for snow in Scotland, from 6am to midnight, and rain in South West England and Wales until 9am.

Further amber and yellow weather warnings for wind and rain have also been issued across tomorrow and Sunday.

BBC Weather had previously warned that Eowyn would be the ‘storm of the century’ for Ireland.

National Highways said the A66 between the A1M in North Yorkshire and M6 in Cumbria, as well as the A628 Woodhead Pass in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire, were both closed overnight due to strong winds.

Further south, the M48 Severn Bridge was closed due to strong winds, while the Tamar Bridge on the A38 between Devon and Cornwall was closed to high-sided vehicles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Avon and Somerset reported a number of local roads had been blocked due to fallen trees, advising motorists to ‘take care when travelling’.

In Wales, Gwent Police confirmed emergency services were working to manage surface flooding on the B4598 Raglan Toward Abergavenny.

Scotland’s Deputy First Minister has urged Scots in the central belt to follow the advice not to travel.

Appearing on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Kate Forbes said: ‘It is so important that people follow Police Scotland’s advice not to travel because if people stay at home and don’t travel then it means they don’t invite that risk to themselves.’

Ms Forbes also warned that recovery from Storm Eowyn could ‘take longer than we all hope’.

‘It is important our expectations are managed by how quickly things can return to normal and there may well be continuing disruption tomorrow,’ she said.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland described the storm as an ‘exceptional weather event’ and said it was expected to bring the strongest winds seen in the country since 1998.

More than 93,000 homes and businesses were without power in Northern Ireland this morning, NIE Networks has said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The provider said the storm was causing ‘widespread damage’ to the electricity network.

It warned that restoration efforts will take significant time as crews cannot begin work until it is safe to do so.

A statement said: ‘We anticipate we will begin assessing the damage to the network after 2pm once the red weather warning has been lifted.’

Stormont deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly urged people to stay at home.

‘The strong advice is to stay home,’ she told BBC Radio Ulster.

‘And that’s important, of course, because if people go out, the risk to life is from debris because of the high winds, if people go out and get into a situation, then that is calling out those essential workers that are there. We don’t want people to have to come out to deal with those. So we are advising everybody stays at home. There’s a significant outage on the electricity.’

Ms Little-Pengelly said it was a ‘very serious storm’.

‘The storm will blow over,’ she said. ‘The worst of it is here at the moment and over the next number of hours. But, of course, we will get through that.’

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill has warned there is a ‘genuine threat to life and property’, describing the region as currently being ‘in the eye of the storm’.

Ms O’Neill told BBC Radio Ulster: ‘We’re asking the public to be very safe, to be very cautious, to take every precaution to ensure that they don’t take any unnecessary travel, please just stay at home if you can.

‘We’re in the eye of the storm now. We are in the period of the red alert.

‘People can see for themselves, the wind has been very much picking up overnight. We’ve just been briefed by the Civil Contingencies Group, by the PSNI who are in the lead in terms of the storm response and they tell us that the situation is, as we have outlined yesterday, we’re still in a period of jeopardy in terms of the damage that potentially could be caused as a result of the storm.

‘I think the real message we want to get across to your listeners this morning is to please be ultra cautious, to please stay at home if you can and we will see how the storm will rage but the scale of the storm, the level of wind that we’ve experienced across the island, which is something that’s never been seen before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘The threat is real, and we only can emphasise to people, please take every precaution that you absolutely can.’

 

‘The forecasted winds will bring severe conditions which will constitute a risk to life and property.

‘Our most important message today is that everybody needs to shelter in place for the duration of all red warnings.

‘We are likely to see significant and widespread power outages, so I would encourage everyone to prepare ahead. Make sure phones, torches and laptops are fully charged.’

The coastal town of Donaghadee in Co Down was among those making preparations last night.

Some businesses placed sandbags at their doors, while others displayed signs to say they would be closed until after the red level alert expires this afternoon.

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