Storm Darragh latest: Second person dies as tree falls onto car while UK faces further weather warnings

Storm Darragh has brought severe winds to the UK as the Met Office delivers weather warnings Morning Headlines

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More than 160,000 homes were still without power more than 24 hours after Storm Darragh hit the UK, the Energy Networks Association has said. The storm caused widespread disruption [1] across the country on Saturday when wind gusts were recored at up to 96mph.

On Sunday, a yellow wind warning for the whole of England and Wales remained in place for most of Sunday. But the damage caused by the powerful winds meant tens of thousands of customers were still without power on Sunday afternoon, although 91 per cent of affected customers had had their connection restored. The Environment Agency still had more than 50 flood warnings, meaning flooding was expected, across England on Sunday afternoon.

The continued disruption came as the first fatal victim of the storm was named. Football coach Paul Fiddler was killed after a tree [2]fell on his van on the A59 at Longton, near Preston, at about 9am on Saturday. Mr Fiddler was one of two people who died in the storms yesterday.

The second was a man who was killed when a tree fell on his car in Erdington in Birmingham.

Full report: Storm Darragh causes chaos across UK as 96mph winds leave one dead and hundreds of thousands without power

Jabed Ahmed7 December 2024 18:36

Storm Darragh map: Where are the weather warnings and when will it end

Jabed Ahmed7 December 2024 17:55

Pier manager bemoans loss of ice cream kiosk

Paul Williams, general manager of Llandudno Pier in North Wales, said it may cost GBP250,000 to repair the damage Storm Darragh caused to the tourist attraction. He said: "Overnight one of the kiosks, one of the original ones, which is roughly 148-years-old was ripped up. "It's the first time in its history that it has been tipped to one side.

"The ice cream stand at the end of the pier has been ripped up and it went into the sea. and there are about a thousand pieces washed up on the other side of the bay. "The roof has come off the toilet and there's real fear that we'll potentially lose the bar and cafe down the end as well." He added: "Repair-wise you're looking at about GBP250,000, easy.

"Potentially we may have to look at the pier not reopening for a considerable amount of time."

(EPA)

Barney Davis7 December 2024 17:40

Heathrow airport flight cancellations mount

At London Heathrow, the busiest airport in the UK, many flights have been diverted or cancelled. Brussels was the destination for diverted transatlantic flights including Delta from Atlanta, American Airlines from Dallas and Air Canada from Calgary. British Airways has made more than 100 short-haul domestic and European cancellations at London Heathrow, including multiple flights to and from Edinburgh, Jersey, Milan, Nice and Vienna.

Holiday departures to and from Malaga, Larnaca and Gibraltar are also among those grounded. Many other airlines' flights are cancelled, including Lufthansa to and from Frankfurt and Munich, Air France to Paris CDG and KLM from Amsterdam. Aer Lingus has grounded links from Cork, Dublin, Knock and Shannon to Heathrow, and the outbound flights.

Simon Calder 7 December 2024 17:05

Watch live: Planes battle Storm Darragh 90mph winds to land at Heathrow Airport

Watch live as planes battle Storm Darragh and wind speeds of over 90mph to land at Heathrow Airport [3] on Saturday (7 December). Barney Davis7 December 2024 16:49

Early warning system may have saved Brits from harm - meteorologist

With one Brit killed so far in Storm Darragh a meteorologist claimed more could have seen harm if the UK didn't have such accurate forecasts. Professor Andrew Charlton-Perez, meteorologist and head of the School of Mathematical Physical and Computational Sciences at the University of Reading, said: "Storm Darragh was well forecast and combined with the clearly communicated warnings seems to have provided the public with the information they needed to to make good decisions to avoid harm.

"It has been good to see public authorities like the Welsh FA and Premier League taking sensible action to prevent the need for people to travel and put themselves in danger. "A key part of climate adaptation for the UK and countries around the world is having access to high-quality weather forecasts of extreme weather events that are becoming more frequent and more severe due to the warming climate. "This storm is a reminder that the UK is very fortunate to have one of the most effective public weather services in the world.

This should spur us on to help deliver on the UN's commitment to develop early warnings for all, and provide similar life-saving warnings for people wherever they live in the world, whether in Lilongwe or Llandudno."

(Getty Images)

Barney Davis7 December 2024 14:59

Somerset businesses surprised how many customers still venturing out in fatal storm

Small businesses near the Bristol Channel in Somerset said tiles had flown off their buildings and they had faced delivery issues. Eleanor Sedgwick, 23, a front-of-house supervisor at Scarlett's in Clevedon, said the cafe did not open on Saturday morning because it was "too big of a risk". She told the PA news agency: "The years that I've worked here, I've never had to close because of the weather, apart from when it snowed."

Ms Sedgwick said four tiles fell off their roof but she felt the business had "got off quite lucky" compared with previous storms. She added: "We're very fortunate because we are the first sort of wall (the storm) hit, so it's scary but I'm glad that everyone's happy and safe." Ben England, 47, manager of the Tiffin cafe on the same beachfront, said: "Last night we put all the (outside) chairs under wraps and tried to make it as secure as possible.

"Some of our deliveries didn't make it through from Bristol, but I think we should be OK. I cancelled probably 80% of our staff that were coming in today, so it's literally just the skeleton crew." Both Ms Sedgwick and Mr England said they were surprised at the number of customers venturing out.

(Harry Stedman/PA Wire)

Barney Davis7 December 2024 14:55

Major incident has been declared in Wales

Dyfed-Powys Police said it was continuing to experience high volumes of calls about fallen trees and poor driving conditions.

Superintendent Chris Neve said: "I have this morning declared a major incident for the counties of Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Powys, which means that together with our partners, we can call on the resources we need to respond to the challenges brought by Storm Darragh. "I'd like to reassure the public that at this time, Dyfed-Powys Police is still able to respond to priority calls for service. "We have robust plans in place to respond to Storm Darragh, and we continue to work extremely closely with partner agencies to do so through local resilience arrangements and close working on the ground.

"The safety of the public remains our top priority and I am urging everyone to take the warnings that have been issued seriously. "I'd like to thank our communities for their support at this time, and once again ask that you avoid unnecessary travel and follow all official advice to stay safe."

A fallen tree blocking a road in Pontypridd, Wales (Ben Birchall/PA) (PA Wire)

Barney Davis7 December 2024 14:33

Met Office forecast for more wind and rain

The Met Office may have downgraded the earlier red alert but the latest forecasts shows Storm Darragh will continues to bring wet and very windy weather. Barney Davis7 December 2024 14:09

Man dies in Lancashire as tree falls onto van while driving

A man has died during Storm Darragh after a tree fell onto his van in Lancashire.

The man, in his 40s, was driving his Citroen vehicle on the A59 at Longton, near Preston, at about 9am on Saturday. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Detective Sgt Matt Davidson, from Lancashire Police's serious collision investigation unit, said: "Very sadly this incident has resulted in the death of a man and our thoughts are with his loved ones at this time.

"An investigation is ongoing, and I would appeal to anyone who saw what happened or has any dashcam or mobile phone footage to please get in touch."

Jabed Ahmed7 December 2024 13:36

References

^ Storm Darragh leaves thousands still without power and flights cancelled after weekend of high winds (www.independent.co.uk)
^ Heartbroken family pay tribute to 'well loved' football coach killed in Storm Darragh (www.independent.co.uk)
^ Heathrow Airport (www.independent.co.uk)