STORM EUNICE LEAVES THOUSANDS OF HOMES WITHOUT POWER
0Storm Eunice leaves thousands of homes without power
Energy companies are working to restore power to hundreds of thousands of homes after one of the worst storms to hit the UK in decades. Three people died in the UK in Storm Eunice on Friday as fierce winds toppled trees and sent debris flying. A 122mph gust on the Isle of Wight set a provisional record in England. Around 190.000 homes are still without power. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he expected travel disruption for 'another day or two'. 'Trains are in the wrong locations. there's still debris being removed from our roads.' he added. Mr Shapps said teams had worked through the night to get road and rail networks back up and running after the 'once in a century' storm. National Rail Enquiries has warned there is still 'major disruption' to services 'across most of Great Britain'. with 'do not travel' notices in place for some routes. South Western Railway said it was in the process of clearing more than 40 fallen trees blocking its routes. while Great Western Railway said it had reopened some lines on Saturday afternoon. Other operators are running a partial service. but some long distance routes are still halted. The Stansted Express remains suspended until further notice. Meanwhile. the M48 Severn Bridge will remain closed due to the forecast of further high winds. Gatwick. Heathrow and Manchester airports said operations were mostly back to normal. after more than 500 flights to and from the UK were cancelled on Friday. according to the data firm Cirium. Home wrecked as Eunice topples 200 year old oakThree people die in UK as Storm Eunice wreaks havocAs it happened: 'Worst storm in decades' hits UKIn pictures: Storm Eunice reaches the UK In a Twitter thread posted on Saturday afternoon. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said 1.2 million customers had had their power restored. while 190.000 remained off supply. He added that strong winds across southern England were 'impacting restoration efforts' and that he expected most customers to have supplies restored promptly. On Friday. the Met Office issued rare red weather warnings for coastal areas of south west England and south Wales. along with south east England. indicating a danger to life A less severe yellow wind warning for the south coast of England and south Wales remains in place until 18:00 GMT on Saturday. and a yellow snow warning was in force for parts of northern England until 15:00. The Met Office said the latest warning could hamper recovery efforts from the storm. Five flood warnings were still in place in England on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday. a yellow wind warning is in place for large swathes of England. Wales. Northern Ireland and south west Scotland. while a yellow rain warning covers parts of the north of England. Insurance payouts for damage caused by Storm Eunice could total between £200m and £350m. according to early estimates from the consultancy firm PwC. Mohammad Khan. General Insurance Leader at PwC UK. said insurance losses would mainly relate to 'damage to homes. commercial properties and vehicles from falling trees and flying debris'. Last year. the Association of British Insurers estimated the cost to the insurance industry from Storms Dennis and Ciara at a combined £360m. Friday's storm closed schools and tore off roofs. leaving three people dead in the UK. A female passenger in her 30s died in Highgate. north London after a tree fell on a car on Friday afternoon. police said. The driver. a man in his 30s. was taken to hospital. A man died in Merseyside after debris hit the windscreen of a car he was a passenger in. The driver was not injured. In Alton. Hampshire. two men were in a pickup truck when it was crushed by a falling tree. The passenger died at the scene while the driver was taken to hospital with serious injuries. Police forces and local authorities across the country reported being inundated with phone calls related to the storm. London Fire Brigade declared a major incident ...
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