LONDON (AP) — Britain and Ireland braced Sunday as Storm Isha unleashed rain and potentially deadly winds that were expected to batter a wide swath of land and disrupt travel into the start of the work week.
The Met Office, the national weather service, issued an unusual blanket wind warning for nearly all of the UK and said there was a possibility of a tornado in Northern Ireland, and parts of northern England and Scotland.
“There’s the potential for danger-to-life and damaging winds potentially leading to some power cuts in places. Some large waves around coastal regions could bring some debris onto roads and trees could come down,” meteorologist Tom Morgan said.
A forecast that gusts could reach 145 kilometres per hour was realised in midafternoon in the mountainous Snowdonia region of Wales.
Parts of the UK have been hammered since fall by a series of gusty and wet storms that have toppled trees, knocked out power and led to flooding along river valleys. Isha is the ninth named storm since September.
The railway operator for Scotland halted train service Sunday night and into Monday’s rush hour. Network Rail, which owns the railway infrastructure in England, Scotland and Wales, said it was placing speed limits on most lines to prevent engines from running into fallen trees and other debris, and trains would be affected into the morning commute.
In the west of Ireland, counties Donegal, Galway and Mayo were warned of extremely strong and possibly destructive gusts from Sunday afternoon into the morning. People were told to stay away from the coast.
