Stormy weather to cause disruption until Tuesday

The Met Office has extended its weather warnings into Tuesday, forecasting more snow, ice and powerful winds as parts of the UK reel from the damage left by Storm Eowyn.

- ANDY GREGORY

Described by forecasters as probably the most powerful storm to hit the UK in at least a decade, Eowyn battered the country with hurricane-force winds of up to 100mph which tore roofs from buildings, uprooted trees, overturned cars, and left 1 million people without power on Friday.

Major travel disruption continued yesterday as trees, trampolines and even the roofs of buildings were cleared from railway tracks, with power distributors warning in Northern Ireland that it could take up to 10 days to restore electricity to all of the 185,000 homes still suffering outages.

The storm was “probably the strongest” to hit the UK in at least 10 years, the Met Office said, and was the most intense storm for “more like 20 or 30 years” in the worst-affected areas.

Scotland’s first minister John Swinney appealed for the public to remain patient as clear-up efforts continued yesterday, as the Met Office issued a flurry of new weather warnings both in Scotland and further south, the last of which will be in force until Tuesday morning.

With a new low-pressure system set to take hold over the weekend, moving in from the southwest as Storm Eowyn passes, fresh warnings for snow and ice will come into effect at 6pm yesterday, covering much of Scotland and also Northern Ireland, lasting until 10am today.