Friday, 29 Nov 2024

Schools closed and thousands without power as Storm Corrie batters UK

Parts of the UK woke up to school closures and power cuts as back-to-back storms caused havoc.

Storm Corrie battered the north of England and Scotland overnight into Monday morning with gusts of more than 90mph recorded.

Communities in the storm’s path were already struggling to recover after Storm Malik hit on Saturday, leaving two dead and thousands without power.

A Met Office weather warning for wind was in place for much of the east coast of England until 10am on Monday.

Forecasters were also warning about the impact of ice in parts of northern Scotland.

Several schools in Aberdeenshire said they will be shut or delay opening on Monday as they struggled with power and heating problems.

Trains were also cancelled and others were forced to travel slowly, causing major disruption for anyone trying to get home on Sunday night.

Pictures have emerged of a Greater Anglia service that got stuck on the tracks between Norwich and Lowestoft when a massive sink hole opened up, exposing gushing water underneath.

Winds of 92mph were recorded in Stornoway, on the Western Isles, on Sunday night but the worst of the weather was slowly moving away throughout the course of Monday morning.

The strongest gust during Storm Malik was 93mph in Brizlee Wood, Northumberland, on Saturday morning but there were also winds that hit 80mph over wide areas of Scotland, and 70mph in the north of England throughout the day.

Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said: ‘That is exceptionally strong for any time of the year and there is no wonder there were significant impacts such as power outages and damage to buildings. It is very unfortunate that things were worse than that for some people.’

Forecasters said that people should beware of flying debris that could lead to injuries, and there may be some damage to buildings including tiles being blown from roofs.

Mr Burkill said: ‘It is not just the case of strong winds causing problems – there is also the ice risk across parts of Scotland through to the early part of Monday morning.

‘There will be some wintry showers. Emergency services are trying to get out, utility companies are trying to make repairs and so the icy conditions are not going to make that easier for them.’

On Saturday, a nine-year-old boy in Staffordshire and a 60-year-old woman in Aberdeen died after trees were torn down.

Some 80,000 homes in Northumberland and County Durham were affected by power cuts with many waiting more than a day to get reconnected.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the impact of Storm Corrie is ‘likely to be significant’.

She tweeted on Sunday: ‘Work to repair the damage from Storm Malik continues. Tens of thousands have had power reconnected already – however, many will remain off supply again tonight and some, especially in north east, could be off into Tuesday. Welfare arrangements are in place.

‘Special arrangements remain in place for vulnerable customers and local resilience partnerships continue to work with councils to provide welfare support.’

Some 7,500 households were expected to be without power by the end of Sunday, the Scottish Government said in an update last night.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: ‘The power companies have drafted in a large number of additional engineers and are making significant inroads into reconnecting customers.

‘However, we need to be aware that the arrival of Storm Corrie could hamper these efforts and add further problems.

‘For those who will unfortunately not have power tonight, support with alternative accommodation is available to anyone who needs it.’

Rural Aberdeenshire is among the hardest-hit areas and some customers in Angus, the Highlands, the Moray coast and Perthshire were still waiting for supplies to be restored.

ScotRail said it withdrew all of its services on Sunday night in an effort to ‘protect passengers and railway staff’.

Network Rail Scotland, which said that ‘all parts of the railway are working together’, added that any other trains that ran on Sunday night had a maximum speed of 40mph.

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