Red weather warnings are in force with millions of people urged to stay at home as Storm Éowyn batters the United Kingdom.
Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland are experiencing the worst of the weather and have been issued with the red warnings – meaning there is a danger to life from high winds.
Wind gusts of up to 93mph (150km/h) were recorded at Aberdaron, north Wales, on Friday, while the Republic of Ireland saw its strongest winds ever recorded and has more than 700, 000 properties without power.
Schools are closed in Northern Ireland and much of central Scotland, while flights, buses and trains have been cancelled.
Away from the areas expected to be worst-hit by Storm Éowyn – pronounced AY-oh-win – amber and yellow warnings for both wind and rain have been issued, with 11 covering the country.
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Red is the most serious weather warning the Met Office can issue, meaning dangerous weather is expected and people are urged to take action to keep themselves and others safe.
The red warning for the whole of Northern Ireland came into force at 07:00 GMT – affecting the morning rush hour – and continues until 14:00 on Friday. Another one covering Scotland’s central belt – including Edinburgh and Glasgow – has been issued from 10:00 GMT until 17:00.
At least 334 flights have been cancelled across airports in Aberdeen, Belfast, Edinburgh and Glasgow, affecting around 50,000 passengers, the PA news agency reported.
Jake Kelly, from Network Rail, said no trains were running in the worst affected areas on Friday, including the whole of Scotland, as well as north of Preston on the west coast mainline in England.
There will also be no trains running north of Newcastle on the east coast mainline from 11:00 GMT.
Mr. Kelly told BBC Breakfast: “We expect a large amount of debris to be flying around and potentially trees to fall over. It wouldn’t have been the right thing to do to put customers into that environment.
“It’s always a very, very difficult decision to close the railway but in the face of this very extreme weather, ultimately we had no choice.”
Mr. Kelly said it was “extremely rare” to close the rail network across such a vast area and it was only done in the “most exceptional circumstances”.
He added that he hoped lines would reopen on Saturday morning but “we simply don’t know the amount of damage we’ll sustain”.
More than 93,000 homes and businesses are without power in Northern Ireland after “widespread damage” to the electricity network, NIE Networks said.
Bus and train services have been suspended there, while all schools have been advised to close and Belfast International Airport is warning of significant disruption to flights.
Courtesy BBC
