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Two people have been killed by falling trees as winds hit 96mph leaving thousands without power across Wales and the west of England.
One man, in his 40s, died when a tree fell on a Citroen van he was driving on the A59 at Longton, near Preston, at about 9am on Saturday. He was pronounced dead at the scene, Lancashire Police said.
A second person died after a tree fell on his car in Erdington in Birmingham just after 3pm.
Across the country, trees were brought crashing down, seaside piers were ripped apart and flights were cancelled amid wind gusts of up to 96mph recorded overnight in Capel Curig in North Wales.
Flights were also in disarray across the UK, with hundreds of cancellations and some extreme diversions as planes abort landings at Heathrow and others are diverted to Germany.
Further yellow warnings are in place for wind and rain on Sunday for much of England and Wales.
In pictures: Epic waves crash into Sunderland lighthouse
National Grid say 58,000 properties without power in Wales
About 60,000 homes and businesses are still without power across Wales after Storm Darragh battered large parts of the country.
Scottish Power reported numerous outages in its area, mainly across north and mid Wales, saying, in some cases, power would not be restored until Monday.
Train lines reopen as Storm Darragh subsides but thousands still without power
On Sunday morning, public transport provider Translink said all rail lines were open, although some speed restrictions are in place across Northern Ireland.
NIE Networks said 15,000 remained without power at 9am. They have indicated it may take a number of days to reconnect those customers.
Network operations manager Alex Houston said engineers are working to restore customers as quickly as possible.
“Most of the faults affecting high numbers of customers have been repaired.
“However, there are still around 1,200 faults across the network, some of which are affecting very small numbers of customers, so we do anticipate that it will take some time before we can get all of these cleared.”
Rail warnings as trees fall on to rails in high winds
Network Rail have told passengers in the south east to expect widespread disruption today as high winds continue to batter the country.
Watch hilarious moment Coventry City football player struggles to take corner in Storm Darragh
Yellow weather warnings remain in England, Wales and the far south of Scotland
Strong winds associated with Storm Darragh will continue to ease gradually but yellow rain and wind warnings remain in place throughout Sunday.
This means:
- Some bus and train services affected, with some journeys taking longer
- Some delays to road, rail, air and ferry transport expected
- Some short term loss of power and other services
- Coastal routes, sea fronts and coastal communities will be affected by spray and/or large waves
- Bus and train services probably affected with journey times taking longer
- Flooding of a few homes and businesses is likely
60mm of rain expected to lash England throughout Sunday
The Met Office said heavy rain was expected to persist in central and eastern parts of England throughout Sunday, with 20-25mm forecast to fall across much of the country.
As much as 60mm could fall over high ground of the Cheviots, Pennines and North York Moors.
Wightlink said the 8am car ferry sailing from Portsmouth and 9am from Fishbourne were cancelled, along with the 7.15am and 8.15am Fastcat services from Portsmouth Harbour and the 7.45am and 8.45am services from Ryde Pier Head.
Further strong winds to batter UK
More strong winds are set to batter much of the UK after Storm Darragh swept through the country.
Gusts of up to 80mph could hit Northern Ireland until 6am on Sunday, before a fresh yellow Met Office wind warning comes into force across much of England and Wales.
More widely there are likely to be gusts of 35-45mph inland, even reaching 70mph around coasts during the morning.
It means that further travel disruption and power cuts are likely until 6pm, the Met Office said.
Flood warnings in place
The Environment Agency has in force 64 flood warnings for areas it believes flooding is expected – with many located on the border between Wales and England.
A spokesperson said: “Local flooding from rivers and surface water is probable in parts of the West Midlands, North East and North West England on Sunday.
“Local flooding may continue into Monday and Tuesday along parts of the River Severn in Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire until Tuesday. Land, roads and some properties could flood and there could be travel disruption.”
Outlook from Monday
Beyond the weather warnings for Monday, the Met Office says it will become more settled into the start of the week.
A spokesperson said there will be light winds for many and staying mainly dry.
However, they added that it will turn increasingly cloudy with patchy rain and drizzle lingering along the north and south coast.
Source: independent.co.uk
