Storm Eunice batters UK with high winds

People struggle in the wind as they walk across Westminster Bridge, near the Houses of Parliament in central London, yesterday as Storm Eunice brings high winds across the country.

Storm Eunice yesterday pummelled Britain with record-breaking winds and forced millions to take shelter as it disrupted flights, trains and ferries across western Europe. London was eerily empty after the British capital was placed under its first ever “red” weather warning, meaning there is “danger to life”. The same rare level of alert was in place across southern England, South Wales and the Netherlands, with many schools closed and rail travel paralysed, as towering waves breached sea walls along the coasts. Eunice knocked out power to more than 140,000 homes in England, mostly in the southwest, and 80,000 properties in Ireland, utility companies said. A man in his 60s was killed by a tree in the Ballythomas area of southeast Ireland, police said. Around London, three people were hospitalised after suffering injuries in the storm, and a large section of the roof on the capital’s Millennium Dome was shredded by the high winds. One wind gust of 196kms per hour was measured on the Isle of Wight off southern England, “provisionally the highest gust ever recorded in England”, the Met Office said. Scientists said the Atlantic storm’s tail could pack a “sting jet”, a rarely seen meteorological phenomenon that brought havoc to Britain and northern France in the “Great Storm” of 1987. Eunice caused high waves to batter the Brittany coast in northwest France, while Belgium, Denmark and Sweden all issued weather warnings. Ferries across the Channel, the world’s busiest shipping lane, were suspended, before the English port of Dover reopened in the late afternoon. Hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed at Heathrow and Gatwick in London. One easyJet flight from Bordeaux endured two aborted landings at Gatwick before being forced to return to the French city. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has placed the British army on standby, tweeted: “We should all follow the advice and take precautions to keep safe.” Environment Agency official Roy Stokes warned weather watchers and amateur photographers against heading to Britain’s southern coastline in search of dramatic footage, calling it “probably the most stupid thing you can do”. London’s rush-hour streets, where activity has been slowly returning to pre-pandemic levels, were virtually deserted as many heeded government advice to stay home. Trains into the capital were already running limited services during the morning commute, with speed limits in place, before seven rail operators in England suspended all operations.