Storm Eunice causes ‘Red alert’ weather warning issued as UK hit with nearly 100mph gusts.
An emergency Cobra meeting was called by the Government today to discuss the incoming Storm Eunice after the Met Office issued a rare ‘red warning’ to stay indoors for what could be Britain’s worst storm in 32 years.
The highest level of alert comes after the Met Office upgraded its “danger to life” amber alert covering almost the whole of England – warning of more outages, flooding and travel chaos on the roads and train lines.
A stay indoors alert had been put in place as Storm Eunice approaches, with stronger winds than Storm Dudley, heavy snow and blizzard conditions in places.
Forecasters had warned Eunice would be more damaging than Dudley, which left thousands of homes without power, trees fallen, disrupted travel services and caused flooding in areas.
Northern Powergrid, which maintains electricity networks across northern England, said it reconnected 10,000 homes within hours, and 1,000 properties still had no lights on Thursday morning due to the weather.
“Our teams have restored power to some 19,000 homes and businesses impacted by Storm Dudley, and we are working to get the lights back on for around 1,000 properties still affected,” a spokesperson said.