United Kingdom (Commonwealth Union)_The United Kingdom entered a 12-hour Met Office amber alert at 6pm as high “destructive” winds hit the country posing a possible “danger to life”.
Air passengers have been thrown into chaos as planes were unable to land safely amid the chaotic winds.
National Air Traffic Services (Nats) told PA that owing to adverse weather conditions across the UK, temporary air traffic restrictions are in place. Restrictions of this sort are only every applied to maintain safety.
Their teams ware working closely with airports and airlines to minimise disruption and that passengers should check the status of their flight with their airline.
British Airways said that like other airlines, they have had to make schedule adjustments due to the adverse weather conditions across the UK and Europe caused by Storm Isha.
They have apologised to their customers for the disruption to their travel plans and their teams were working hard to get them on their way as quickly as possible.
While the RAC warned drivers to lower their speeds and even consider delaying journeys, ferry company Wightlink also warned of potential disruption.
Rail, sea and air travellers were also hit with disruption, with closures, cancellations and delays expected across a number of services.
Damage to homes and buildings, falling trees, flying debris, large waves, power cuts, and even some flooding in places should also be expected, forecasters have warned.
People have been requested to stay inside and not to make unnecessary journeys as the Met Office warned there was a slim chance a tornado could hit western parts of the UK.
Research organisation Torro said Ireland, Northern Ireland, parts of Scotland and northern England were ‘tornado watch’ zones, meaning a “strong tornado” is possible in those regions.
Met Office forecaster Marco Petagna informed the PA news agency that there was a potential that they could see the odd isolated tornado largely tied in with the squally cold front mainly in western parts of the UK on Sunday evening which can cause some significant damage but that often on a very localised scale, they often don’t tend to last very long.
The Met Office said 90mph winds hit Capel Curig in north Wales during the afternoon. Meanwhile, 76mph gusts were recorded in Loftus, North Yorkshire while 75mph winds blasted Brizlee Wood, near Alnwick in Northumberland, and Emley in Huddersfield.
Agencies across Cumbria have declared themselves on standby for a major incident, while elsewhere in Belfast, a person was hit by debris.
Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan said that they were expecting widespread gales to affect the UK, amber warnings are in place for large parts of the country.
He stated that there was the potential for danger-to-life and damaging winds potentially leading to some power cuts in places, some large waves around coastal regions could bring some debris onto roads and trees could come down.
He added that they had a wind warning in place across the whole of the UK, and that it was pretty unusual for the whole of the country to be under a blanket wind warning.”
The Met Office has said everybody would be affected by the storm.
Further adding to the torrent of weather, almost four inches of rain could fall over a few hours in some regions and cause localised flooding, with 23 flood warnings already in place across England.
Network Rail said that 50mph speed restrictions have been imposed across most routes to keep passengers and trains safe from falling trees and debris blown onto tracks, with disruption likely to continue into Monday morning.
Scotland’s railway operator already cancelled all of its services after 7pm and there would also be no Monday morning rush-hour services.
One train struck a tree at Crosshill, near Glasgow, while Network Rail teams responded to reports of a fallen tree on the overhead wires at Gartcosh, close to Cumbernauld.
Several rail services across the country warned against travel, while air traffic control restrictions were in place, leading to some flight cancellations.
Storm Isha is the ninth named storm to hit the United Kingdom since the season began in September.
Every storm is named when it poses a risk to people and they are given names beginning with consecutive letters of the alphabet.
The record number of named storms in one year was when the Met Office began the practice in 2015/16, with Storm Katie being the 11th and final storm of the season.
If there were three more named storms between next week and August, this year will mark a new record.
The Met Office said that cold Arctic air pushing south into North America was making the jet stream more active, and because it flows from west to east, it is bringing stormier weather to the UK.
