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Storm Arwen: Strong winds cause huge disruption across the UK

Roker Pier in Sunderland shortly before the arrival of Storm ArwenImage source, Simon Woodley

A big storm has hit the UK overnight, bringing strong winds and causing lots of disruption across the country.

It's called Storm Arwen, and because of its strong winds, around 80,000 homes in Scotland were left without power.

In Wales, I'm A Celebrity was forced to cancel the live part of Friday's show as the winds were too dangerous to film in.

The storm is also bringing some very cold weather, which could mean snow for parts of the UK over the couple of days.

What's happened so far?

Image source, PA Media

Gusts of up to 90mph were forecast to hit North East Scotland and North East England.

Because of this, the Met Office issued a rare red warning - its highest level of alert - for Storm Arwen on Friday.

The red warning covered coastal areas in North-East Scotland and North-East England.

Police urged people not to travel if they lived in any areas covered by the red warning.

Weather warning key facts
  • The warnings have different colours depending on how bad - and potentially dangerous - the weather is. These are yellow, amber and red.

  • Red is the most serious kind of weather warning that the Met Office can issue, and it's rare that they do so.

  • It means that it is likely that the weather will cause damage, for example to buildings and roads.

Image caption,

Storm Arwen was causing rough seas at Aberystwyth's South Beach on Friday

This red warning expired at 2am on Saturday morning, but amber and yellow warnings for high winds still remain in place as the Met Office said Storm Arwen "continues to bring some very strong gusts to many areas".

The strongest wind recorded so far was in Northumberland, and was just under 100 miles per hour.

What's been affected and where?

Image source, Twitter/NWmwaypolice

Storm Arwen has had a big impact on travel so far.

Things falling onto roads meant lots of them were closed in the worst-hit parts of Scotland, while LNER train services north of Newcastle were also ground to a halt. ScotRail had a number of issues too, such as a tree has falling on overhead wires at Bishopbriggs which stopped services on that line.

In Scotland, 80,000 homes were left without power as the storm cut off power supplies. The main areas affected were Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and the Moray coast.

In Wales, as well as power cuts in places like Swansea and Cardiff, the I'm a Celebrity team decided to abandon the live portion of Friday's show as the storm hit North Wales.

ITV instead broadcast a pre-recorded show from Gwrych Castle, Conwy.

"Our celebrities will remain inside the castle, which is secure, and we have contingencies in place to cover all weather scenarios to ensure the safety of our cast and crew," ITV said in a statement.

Image source, Joel Anderson/ITV
Image caption,

The I'm a Celeb cast will remain in the castle and weather the storm

In Northern Ireland, ferry services were cancelled on Friday and disruption to the sailings are expected to continue into Saturday and in England, coastal areas have been most badly affected.

What will happen now?

The Met Office's amber warnings expires at 9am Saturday, and the yellow warnings will do the same later at 6pm.

The weekend is still likely to be windy and cold according to the Met Office, with snow even forecast in Scotland and Northern England. Snowfall has already been spotted in places like Rochdale and County Durham.

That Met Office have said that in some areas, up to 8cm of snow can be expected.