A flurry of fresh weather warnings for wind and rain were issued for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday after Storm Eowyn battered the British Isles with hurricane-force winds.
Flights were cancelled, major rail routes closed and ferry services axed on Saturday after winds surpassing 100mph hit parts of Britain throughout Friday. More than a million people were left without power due to the vicious storm.
A rare red weather warning was lifted on Friday from Scotland and Northern Ireland, where Storm Eowyn damaged buildings, uprooted trees and caused power cuts.
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But the Met Office has issued weather warnings through until Tuesday, as a new low-pressure system – dubbed Storm Herminia by Spanish forecasters – takes hold over the weekend, moving in from the southwest as Eowyn passes.
A wind warning was lifted at 5pm on Sunday from the west coast of England, Wales and southwestern Scotland, after wind speeds up to 82mph were recorded in south Cornwall.
A further yellow wind warning stretching from the south coast up to north east England is in place from 10pm on Sunday until 7am on Monday, while a rain warning covering southern and central England and Wales is in place until 6am on Monday.
Another rain warning over most of Wales will remain in place until 11:59pm on Monday.
Three weather warnings are in place from Sunday evening into Monday morning (Met Office)
Some places could see up to 80mm of rainfall over the period from two separate spells of heavy rain and thundery showers, while 10 to 20mm should fall quite widely and 30 to 50mm could fall over high ground, the Met Office said.
Flooding to homes and businesses could occur in the warning area, with power cuts and difficult driving conditions also possible. There is also a “small chance” of fast-flowing or deep floodwater causing danger to life, the Met Office said.
The Environment Agency had issued 151 flood alerts and 23 flood warnings as of Sunday evening (Environment Agency)
Met Office meteorologist Jonathan Vautrey said: “Looking at Sunday, it’s set to be a fairly fine start for a lot of areas – another ridge of high-pressure building in to keep things fairly settled, with some sunny spells in there.
“The cloud, though, is going to be building as we see a low-pressure system move into the South West. This will be bringing heavy rain in for south-west England and Wales from sort of mid-morning onwards, and then that will spread into Northern Ireland and northern England as we head later on into the afternoon.
A wind warning is also in force until 6am on Tuesday (Met Office)
“Winds will also be picking up with this feature. Certainly, it’s not going to be as strong as Storm Eowyn. However, because it’s coming in from the South West, it’s going to be actually more southern areas of England that are going to see the strongest wind gusts compared to what has mostly been further towards the north.”
The start of next week will bring little respite for those in the south. A yellow warning for wind has been listed for southern parts of England and Wales from 6am on Monday until 6am on Tuesday, that could bring a “period of strong and gusty southwesterly winds”.
