Travellers left stranded at Euston due to heavy storms

Monday, November 1, 2021

Travellers heading to Scotland for the COP26 climate summit were left stranded by major rail disruption caused by intense storms. Hundreds of people gathered at London’s Euston station where trains were suspended due to fallen trees.

The disruption was initially caused by damage to overhead electrical wires between Rugby and Milton Keynes. Network Rail said trains had been able to resume using a diversion only for that route to then also become blocked.

An update said further damage on the diversion route via Northampton meant trains had stopped running in and out of Euston again. Earlier on Sunday, the south and east of England were battered by heavy rain and gusts of up to 80mph.

Meteorologist Tom Morgan said the Met Office could not confirm any tornadoes but would not rule them out. He said it is not out of the question that there will have been some localised, brief funnel clouds or tornadoes.

Gusts of 87mph (140km/h) were recorded at an exposed location on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, he said, while gusts of 60mph (96km/h) were recorded across Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and Sussex.

In Northamptonshire, Earl Charles Spencer said a tornado hit the park at Althorp House and the Reverend Richard Coles described a tornado hitting his church in Finedon. Northamptonshire Police said it had received more than 200 calls about weather-related incidents, including trees down in Northampton, Cogenhoe, Roade, Towcester, Castle Ashby and on the A5.

Trees were also fallen in Hampshire, Dorset, Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire. In Blackbird Leys, Oxford, fire crews were called to Evenlode Tower where cladding was dislodged by high winds and several panels came away from the building, while others were in danger of falling off. Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said the area was cordoned off to protect local residents and the process of arranging emergency repairs was under way.

The Met Office issued a warning of a brief period of damaging winds as a “squally band of rain passes through Lincolnshire and the East Midlands”. Yellow weather warnings are in place across the coasts of Wales, Devon and Cornwall, and southern parts of England.

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