UK flood warning: Weather warning as Storm Barra brings rain and snow

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

United Kingdom is under yellow weather warnings for snow and wind today.

The Met Office has placed England and Wales, and three-quarters of Scotland, under a severe yellow weather warning for snow and wind.

It shows the extent of the affected area, with everyone from County Durham to Kent expected to feel the winter chill. Heavy snow is expected across northern England and Scotland bringing likely travel disruption, especially over higher routes.

Strong winds, heavy rain and snow have hit parts of the UK, as Storm Barra sweeps across the country.

Most of the UK was covered by severe yellow weather warnings on Tuesday – with only the far north of Scotland escaping the worst weather.

The gales and blizzards have been reported, with wind gusts reaching 86mph at Aberdaron in Gwynedd. About 3,200 homes in north-east Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales have lost power.

But Storm Barra is not expected to be as bad as its predecessor, Arwen, which hit the UK 11 days ago and left thousands of homes without electricity.

About 360 homes are still without power in the North East of England, an area in the path of the new storm.

The Flood warnings have been issued in 28 places across the UK for Wednesday, including in Sunderland, Bournemouth, Aberystwyth and Orkney.

The Met Office weather warnings included a yellow warning for wind covering all of England and Wales, as well as south-west and east Scotland, which ended at midnight.

A yellow warning of heavy snow for inland areas of Scotland also until midnight that also lasted until midnight.

As Storm Barra swept in from the Atlantic earlier on Tuesday, strong winds with gusts of up to 80mph were recorded in the Republic of Ireland. Schools closed across 12 counties in Ireland and 49,000 homes and businesses were without power. And in Northern Ireland, about 5,500 homes lost power due to damage to the network – with 1,500 still in the dark as of Tuesday evening.

A further 270 homes are still without power across Wales, and ferries and trains have been cancelled. The storm left 1,700 homes without power in parts of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire and also caused school closures and delays across the transport network.

Snow has already fallen in northern England and southern Scotland. High winds damaged the roof of a school in Stranraer, while a fallen tree blocked the A702 road in South Lanarkshire. Four schools also shut in Dumfries and Galloway.

The storm is set to continue eastwards, with travel disruption, power outages and large waves in coastal areas possible, the Met Office said.

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