Storm Darragh has hit the UK

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Storm Darragh hit western England, Ireland, southern Wales and Northern Ireland on Saturday, leaving several hundred thousand people without power. A warning has been issued for the three million population of strong winds and rain that will batter the islands until at least the end of the week.

Wind gusts exceeding 150 kilometers per hour were recorded in some places. In a number of places the wind uprooted trees and caused great material damage. Firefighters are constantly removing downed trees from roads and railways and trying to restore connections. The situation is complicated by numerous power outages. Outages affect hundreds of thousands of households in England and Ireland and are gradually being restored.

Yellow wind warnings will remain in place for most of the UK until Sunday morning. The wind is strong enough to blow off the roofs of even larger buildings. Energy Minister Ed Miliband informed citizens on Saturday that over a thousand engineers are operating in the field to restore electricity supplies as soon as possible. According to the latest information from the company Northern Ireland Electricity Networks, outages affect more than forty-six thousand properties.

At the moment the weather conditions remain bad but according to meteorologists the storm should be weakening. The strongest winds were recorded on Saturday morning at Capel Curig in North Wales near Aberdaron on the Llyn Peninsula.

A large number of cultural events were canceled or postponed across the UK as a result of the storm. All London parks also remained closed due to the danger of falling trees. The storm also brought heavy rain and 144 flood warnings remain in place across the UK. Storm Darragh is the fourth storm of the season after Bert and Conall, which caused major flooding last month.

Source:BBC/Editorial