Hundreds of thousands without power as Storm Darragh batters UK and Ireland with 93mph gusts

A second person has died after a tree hit his vehicle while hundreds of thousands of people are still without power after Storm Darragh hit the UK and Ireland with gusts of up to 93mph.

West Midlands Police said they were called to Silver Birch Road, Erdington, just after 3pm on Saturday following reports that a car was hit by a falling tree in the stormy conditions.

Sergeant Benjamin Parsons, of the force’s roads policing unit, said: “Our thoughts are with the man’s family at this time, and his next of kin have been informed.”

He urged anyone who may have seen or filmed what happened to contact the force.

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Earlier, a man in his 40s was killed when a tree fell and hit his van in Lancashire at around 9am, Lancashire Police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A “risk to life” warning was issued for people living within the area covered by the Met Office’s rare red warning for wind, which was issued for much of Wales and parts of the South West, as the fourth named storm of the season hit the UK.

The government sent out the text alert to around three million people before the storm made landfall.

The alert warned people of the coming disruption and asked them to “stay indoors if you can”, saying it wasn’t safe to drive in the stormy conditions.

Get the five-day forecast where you are

Gusts of up to 93mph were recorded overnight in Capel Curig in North Wales, according to the Met Office, and 92mph in Aberdaron on the Llyn Peninsula.

Winds topping 80mph were recorded in other parts of Wales and gusts of up to 77mph were seen in Northern Ireland and the South West of England, the forecaster said.

The storm was at its peak as of 7am, Tom Morgan of the Met Office said, adding higher wind speed totals are “possible” later.

The centre of the storm, where winds are calmer, was across the North East.

The National Grid said, as of 7pm, 174,288 properties across South Wales, the South West and the Midlands were without power but warned it was “a fast-moving situation”.

The company said it has restored supplies to more than 920,000 homes and businesses since Friday.

In an update posted at 5pm, the Northern Ireland Electricity Network said around 48,000 of its customers were still without power.

ESB Networks said approximately 120,000 properties were still without power in Ireland as of 8.45pm, adding that it had restored supply to 275,000 customers over the course of Saturday.

National Highways said the Prince of Wales Bridge, M4, and the Severn Bridge, M48 – which connect South West England to Wales – had been closed due to strong winds.

It advised the QEII Bridge at Dartford Crossing in South East England had also been closed due to strong winds.

Network Rail Wales said all train services on the North West Coast Line had been suspended until further notice due to a fallen tree.

The Merseyside Premier League derby between Everton and Liverpool which was due to kick-off at lunchtime at Goodison Park has been postponed.

Several British Airways flights to and from Heathrow, Paris, the US and the Netherlands have been cancelled.

Rare ‘risk to life’ weather warning

The Met Office’s red weather warning, its most serious type, for dangerous wind was issued on Friday but has now expired.

Wind warnings covering almost all of the UK are in place until Sunday morning.

Gather ‘essential items’

The Cabinet Office’s emergency alert on Friday advised people to consider gathering “torches, batteries, a mobile phone power pack and other essential items” already in their homes.

The text read: “A RED warning for wind has been issued in your area. Extremely strong winds associated with Storm Darragh are expected to cause significant disruption.

“Strong winds can cause flying debris, falling trees and large waves around coastal areas, all of which can present a danger to life.”

When it came in, the alert made a sound much louder than a normal text until it was switched off.

However, some people claimed they didn’t receive it.