Tornado warning as Isha bashes Britain

90MPH WINDS PUT LIVES AT RISK AND CAUSE TRAVEL CHAOS

- Giles Sheldrick

TORNADOS were expected to batter Britain last night as Storm Isha whipped up winds peaking at 90mph and brought back chilling memories of the storms of 1987.

As the most powerful gusts struck western parts causing possible "danger to life", the Meteorological Office issued a "tornado watch" zone for Northern Ireland, parts of Scotland and northern England.

Such was concern about over the ferocity of the anticipated winds that people were warned to stay away from windows for fear of flying debris.

Met Office forecaster Marco Petagna said that they expected only the "odd isolated tornado mainly in western parts" but he warned: "They can cause some significant damage."

Official guidance said there was a "good chance that power cuts may occur" as well as "damage to buildings such as tiles blown off roofs".

Much of Britain was expected to wake up this morning to the fallout from the extreme weather system.

Alongside the great clear-up, travel will be hit by the knock-on effect.

This could disrupt hundreds of flights plus rail and ferry services while grid technicians stood by to tackle power outages caused by high voltage lines being brought down in the storms.

In Scotland, all rail services were cancelled from 7pm yesterday while Heathrow had already grounded 38 planes and Dublin called off 102 flights.

The start-of-the-week commute is set to be a nightmare for millions with train and buses affected, meaning roads will be significantly busier than usual.

Motoring group the RAC urged drivers to consider delaying journeys, while train operators and airlines told people to stay away.

Met Office chiefs were forced to upgrade warnings, saying the ninth named storm of the season was likely to "affect everybody".