UK warns people to stay home as it braces for 90 mph winds

Millions of Britons are being urged to cancel travel plans and stay indoors amid fears of high winds and flying debris

LONDON -- Millions of people in the U.K. were urged to cancel travel plans and stay indoors Friday as the second major storm this week prompted warnings of high winds and flying debris across northern Europe.

Britain’s weather service said Storm Eunice, known as Storm Zeynep in Germany, was likely to cause significant disruption and dangerous conditions, with gusts that may exceed 90 miles per hour in highly exposed coastal areas.

Authorities in the U.K. took the unusual step of issuing ”red’’ warnings — indicating a danger to life — for parts of southwest England between 7 a.m. and noon and for southeast England and London from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. A lower level amber warning for gusts up to 80 mph covers the whole of England from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Eunice is the second named storm to hit Europe in two days, with the first storm killing at least five people in Germany and Poland. Peter Inness, a meteorologist at the University of Reading in England, attributed the storms to an unusually strong jet stream over the eastern Atlantic Ocean, with winds close to 200 mph at high altitudes.