Storm Ciarán latest: school closures as major incident declared

Commuters in southern England were advised to work from home and hundreds of schools switched to remote learning as Storm Ciaran was declared a major incident.

Two amber warnings were in place for parts of the south coast of England, with the storm expected to intensify and bring potentially deadly floods and winds to towns stretching from Canterbury in Kent to Falmouth, Cornwall. London is under yellow warnings for wind and rain until midnight tonight.

o How will schools, flights and trains be affected?[1]

Very strong winds could disrupt travel, bring down power lines and cause structural damage to buildings, with flying debris posing a danger to life, the Met Office said.

The storm has caused flooding, with warnings more is to come as it continues to batter the country FINNBARR WEBSTER/GETTY IMAGES

A red wind warning, the highest level, was issued by Jersey Met, the forecaster for Jersey, which urged residents to avoid outside activity due to predicted gusts of almost 100mph.

Jersey police said that it had moved 39 people due to storm damage to their homes overnight, while three others have been taken to hospital.

o Scotland's October the wettest since records began [2]

The warnings led to panic buying across the Channel Islands, with some supermarkets running out of key staples including bread, milk, vegetables and meat.

State-run schools in Jersey will be closed, while the island's residents have been advised to stay at home as they brace for a level of destruction not seen since the great storm of 1987.

A man was taken to hospital after his car fell 150ft down an embankment after driving through a four-foot-deep puddle on the A303 during Storm Ciaran. It took 16 firefighters about 45 minutes in the dark to release the trapped man in his wrecked Vauxhall Corsa, after he raised the alarm on his mobile phone at Bullington Cross, Hampshire.

The car had come to rest on its side after hitting the deep puddle, which had spread across both carriageways. The accident happened at about 2.30am on Thursday on the eastbound dual carriageway.

The man, in his thirties, was taken by ambulance to Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital with leg and arm injuries.

Dawlish, in Devon, where strong winds are expected until at least this evening

SWNS:SOUTH WEST NEWS SERVICE

Power has been cut to almost 10,000 properties across Cornwall after Storm Ciaran lashed the southwest in the early hours of Thursday. There have been severe weather warnings in place since 3am and electricity cuts struck through the night.

At 11am, 1,228 properties in East Sussex and 535 properties in West Sussex were without power. UK Power Networks said power supplies across the southeast had been affected by strong winds and heavy rain.

Many of the properties will not have power restored until Thursday evening or Friday morning.

There are losses the full length of the county but are more widespread in the west.

Cornwall council said: "As Storm Ciaran continues to affect Cornwall, we are still experiencing extremely strong winds, causing dangerous conditions for travel. Please do not travel unless your journey is essential, and if you do have to venture out, please take extra care. Please avoid exposed coastal areas overnight and into Thursday.

Large waves and strong winds will make coastlines particularly dangerous."

Hundreds of schools, from Suffolk to Devon, closed, while in Hampshire the storm has been declared a major incident amid fears of a "potential risk to life".

The storm was expected to cause travel chaos across much of the country, with the potential for roads to be submerged, railway lines closed and delays or cancellations across bus and train services, ferries and flights.

The major incident was declared by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Local Resilience Forum, with the local fire service warning that there was a "potential risk to life" as well as risk of damage to buildings, falling trees, and flooding.

The amber warning was in place from 3am Thursday to 1am Friday in Cornwall and Devon, with the Met Office predicting Ciaran will bring winds of 75mph to 85mph, with 65mph to 75mph gusts inland.

The Met Office said that Jersey airport had recorded wind gusts of up to 93mph on Thursday morning, with Langdon Bay in Kent recording 71mph winds, and the village of Cardinham in Cornwall 68mph gusts.

Across the south coast, the amber warning ran until midday. Some areas could see "significant flooding" and several communities in southern England face the prospect of being cut off by flooded roads, the Environment Agency said. By 1pm on Thursday the agency had issued 79 flood warnings for England and 196 flood alerts.

Meanwhile, Surfers Against Sewage said 130 beaches faced being polluted, with heavy rain expected to cause dozens of sewer networks to overflow.

The RAC is advising drivers in the south and west of the UK to avoid coastal and rural roads.

The Port of Dover has reopened after being closed earlier today. Condor Ferries have cancelled several routes between the UK and the Channel Islands on Thursday and Friday.

The AA says it has already rescued several dozen drivers from flooded roads, including one driver on a rural road in the Newbury area for whom it called an ambulance due to suspected hypothermia.

The rail operators Southern, Thameslink and Southeastern are advising people to work from home if they can. Great Western is advising against travel to Cornwall until at least midday.

LNER warned commuters to expect disruption until at least Saturday, with customers advised to "avoid travel by train during this period".

The wild weather comes after the UK had its joint sixth wettest October on record. The Met Office said England had its eighth wettest on record, with 147.2mm of rain, 63 per cent more than average. Northern Ireland had its fifth wettest October on record with 191.8mm, 68 per cent more than its average.

Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, the Isle of Wight and some counties in the east of Scotland provisionally recorded their wettest Octobers on record. Storm Ciaran causes flooding in Northern Ireland