UK braces for 80mph winds after amber weather warning: Storm Darragh latest

Three yellow weather warnings for rain and wind will be introduced at 3pm. A yellow warning for wind from 3pm on Friday until 6am on Sunday will cover the entirety of England, Wales, Northern Ireland and southern parts of Scotland.

A yellow weather warning for rain will cover Northern Ireland and most of Wales from 3pm on Friday until 12pm on Saturday, with the possibility of some “flooding and disruption”.

Another yellow warning for rain will cover the southern part of Scotland from 3pm on Friday until 12pm on Saturday, stretching from the Scottish Borders up to Glasgow and Edinburgh, and up the eastern coast to Aberdeen.

Alongside the yellow weather warnings starting on Friday, two amber warnings for wind will be introduced in the early hours of Saturday.

The warning, in force between 3am and 9pm on Saturday, encompasses southwest England, western Wales, England’s northwest coast and the southeastern coast of Scotland.

The Met Office’s weather forecast for the next day says Storm Darragh will hit the UK by Friday evening.

“Rain clearing away to the east and southeast this evening, leaving clear periods for many overnight. Some showers in the north and northwest. Winds easing for all, with a patchy frost likely for some western rural areas,” the forecast says for Thursday.

Friday will see a “dry, bright start, with a few showers continuing in the northwest,” before “wet and increasingly windy weather arriving later from the west later as Storm Darragh arrives by the evening.”

The Met has warned there may be a “danger to life” in the areas which are covered by an amber weather warning on Saturday.

Northern Ireland and the entire west coast of England and Wales – along with the southeastern Scottish coast – have been issued an amber weather warning for rain.

Here is what the Met Office is warning residents to expect:

• A good chance of powercuts, with the potential to affect services such as mobile phone coverage
• Probable damage to buildings
• Longer journey times and cancellations with rail, air and ferry services potentially affected
• Danger to life and injuries as a result of flying debris
• Closure of roads and bridges, with falling trees a potential hazard
• Danger to life from large waves and beach material being thrown onto coastal roads, sea fronts and properties

The Met Office has issued a number of weather warnings for Friday.

They will all come into force at 3pm.

A yellow weather warning for wind, which covers the entirety of England, Wales, Northern Ireland and southern parts of Scotland, will remain in place until Sunday at 6am.

A yellow rain warning will be in place across southern Scotland, stretching up the eastern Scottish coast to Aberdeen. This will be in place until 12pm on Saturday.

There will also be a yellow weather warning for rain covering Northern Ireland and Wales until 12pm on Saturday.

Here’s a map of the warnings issued by the Met Office:

Motorists are being urged not to drive through floodwater amid warnings of heavy rain and 80mph winds set to batter large swathes of the UK over the coming days.

The Environment Agency said it is carefully monitoring the progress of Storm Darragh, the fourth named storm of the season, ahead of the weekend after the Met Office issued a rare amber warning for “potentially damaging” winds.

Katharine Smith, flood duty manager from the agency, said heavy rain was expected to move “rapidly” across the north and west of England on Thursday evening, adding minor surface-water flooding was “probable” across parts of North West England, while minor river flooding was possible more widely across the country.

Hello and welcome to The Independent’s live blog for Storm Darragh.

With a danger to life warning and wind speeds of up to 80mph an hour, the UK is set for a turbulent weekend of weather.

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