Man killed during Storm Éowyn’s ‘once a generation’ hurricane-force winds ...Middle East

One man has died after Storm Éowyn’s “once a generation” hurricane-force winds wreaked chaos and left hundreds of thousands of homes without power.

Winds of around 100 mph swept across mainland Britain during the rare “weather bomb” event on Friday, while the Republic of Ireland was hit by record-breaking gusts of 114 mph.

Police confirmed a man died when a tree fell on his car in County Donegal, Ireland at around 5.30am. Gardai said they were working with local authorities to remove the man’s body from his vehicle.

Major transport disruption is expected to continue on Saturday, with further amber and yellow alerts for high winds in place for much of the country.

Rail services, buses and ferries all ground to a halt on Friday, and more than 1,100 flights were cancelled across the UK and Ireland, affecting around 150,000 passengers.

The storm ripped off roofs from homes, overturned lorries and uprooted trees – injuring several drivers struck by falling branches as well as blocking roads.

Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert, central Scotland saw its backup generators fail to kick in for a “short period” during an electricity cut before power was restored.

Weather experts said they hoped fatalities and injuries had been minimised by an alert sent out by text to about 4.5 million people in the highest-risk areas on Thursday.

Scotland and Northern Ireland bore the brunt of the wild, hazardous weather, with millions of people urged to stay at home during red weather warnings in place on Friday.

Schools, colleges, universities and most public buildings were closed. Belfast, Glasgow, and Edinburgh city centres turned into ghost towns as shops and businesses stayed shut.

Around 100,000 households in Scotland suffered from power cuts. More than 280,000 homes and businesses in Northern Ireland were hit by outages. Another 725,000 customers were affected in the Republic of Ireland.

First Minister John Swinney said conditions remained “too dangerous” for some recovery teams to work even after the red weather warning for Scotland’s central belt and southwest was lifted at 5pm. The SNP leader warned that it would “take time to recover” both power and transport services.

While no injuries have been reported in Northern Ireland in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn, Assistant Chief Constable Davy Beck, who was in charge of the storm’s response, said on Friday evening that “we are still not out of the potential risks in respect of this storm”. He urged people not to travel unless strictly necessary.

Hundreds of passengers spent several hours on flights forced to return to Stanstead Airport in Essex after being unable to land at planned destinations of Edinburgh and Dublin.

All trains were suspended in Scotland and Northern Ireland, while services in England and Wales – including Avanti West Coast, LNER, West Midlands Railway and Transport for Wales – were hit by hit by cancellations and delays.

A driver was seriously injured following a single-vehicle collision in Mauchline, East Ayrshire while another driver was injured when a tree fell on their van in the Balmore Road area of Glasgow on Friday morning, Police Scotland said.

The force said it has responded to 11 incidents so far where lorries have overturned due to high winds.

The Isle of Man’s Government declared a major incident because of the number of fallen trees which blocked emergency services from accessing roads.

Winds of 100 mph were recorded at Drumalbin in South Lanarkshire in Scotland, the strongest gust anywhere in the UK. A record-breaking wind speed of 114 mph was measured in Mace Head in the Republic of Ireland.

BBC weather presenter Judith Ralston described Storm Éowyn as a “once in a generation” event. Professor Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, agreed that it was a “once a generation” storm for both Northern Ireland and the Republic.

“It’s also one of the most significant in recent years in mainland Britain. It’s an unusually strong storm, one we’ll be talking about for years,” she told The i Paper.

Millions of phones receive weather alert as Storm Éowyn approaches

Dr Ambrogio Volonte, a meteorologist at the University of Reading, said Éowyn matched some of “the most formidable storms of recent decades” in the UK.

Meteorologists said the storm became a “weather bomb” before hitting the British Isles – the intensification of a low-pressure system known as “explosive cyclogenesis”.

Satellite imagery suggests the Republic of Ireland may also have experienced a “sting jet” – a rare phenomenon where winds high in the atmosphere are pushed to the ground at high speed.

Professor Bentley said the Government’s alert system meant people were better prepared than during previous storms. “I think the warnings will have saved lives.”

An amber warning for wind is in place for the north of Scotland on Saturday, while yellow warnings for snow and ice are in place for the rest of Scotland, Northern Ireland, south Wales and south-west England.

Scotrail said there would be no trains anywhere in Scotland until midday on Saturday. Network Rail warned the storm may affect journeys elsewhere in the country until Saturday.

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