Met Office introduces amber weather warnings for wind ahead of Storm Corrie

Storm Corrie is set to hit the UK on Sunday and Monday (image: PA)Storm Corrie is set to hit the UK on Sunday and Monday (image: PA)
Storm Corrie is set to hit the UK on Sunday and Monday (image: PA)

The Met Office has upgraded its weather warnings for Storm Corrie to amber, with extreme winds expected to wreak havoc across Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North of England from Sunday evening.

It comes after Storm Malik led to the deaths of a boy and a woman in separate incidents involving falling trees

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Thousands of homes have been left without power overnight in Scotland and England, with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warning Storm Corrie “may be more severe for parts of Scotland”.

Weather forecasters have warned strong winds could cause danger to life (image: Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty Images)Weather forecasters have warned strong winds could cause danger to life (image: Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty Images)
Weather forecasters have warned strong winds could cause danger to life (image: Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty Images)

Storm Corrie severe weather warnings

Weather forecasters at the Met Office have introduced an amber weather warning for the north of Scotland, and yellow weather warnings for the North East and North West of England and coastal areas of Northern Ireland.

An amber weather warning means there is an increased likelihood of impacts from severe weather, such as potentially fatal flying debris, damage to trees and buildings, power cuts, and widespread disruption to travel.

Both sets of warnings are in place from 5pm on Sunday (30 January) and will run overnight until 6am on Monday morning.

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Chief meteorologist Dan Suri said: “Storm Corrie will bring very strong winds to the north of the UK, especially northern Scotland, on Sunday. This follows just one day after Storm Malik moves though also bringing a spell of very strong winds.

“Storm Corrie will bring gusts of up to 90mph in exposed coastal locations in northern Scotland, with 70-80mph gusts more widely in the north.”

Storm Malik: 2 dead and thousands without power

Storm Corrie comes in the wake of separate weather system Storm Malik, which brought gusts of more than 100mph to northern parts of the UK.

A 9-year-old boy died in Winnothdale, Staffordshire after being struck by a falling tree, while a 60-year-old woman was also killed by a felled tree in Aberdeen.

Gusts peaked at 147mph in the Cairngorms.

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This weather caused widespread disruption to power networks, with more than 140,000 homes left without power in Scotland and England at one stage.

Here is the latest situation:

  • Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said around 23,000 households in Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and the Moray Coast were without power as of 10pm on Saturday (29 January), with the agency moving to “red alert” status ahead of Storm Corrie.

  • 550 homes in the Borders, Lothians and Fife are still yet to be reconnected to power, according to SP Energy Networks - the company responsible for the electricity power grid in central and southern Scotland. It said it had engineers, customer service and support staff on standby for Storm Corrie.

  • Northern Powergrid, which supplies power to around 3.9m homes in the North East of England and Yorkshire, said 16,000 properties in Northumberland and County Durham still without power as of 11am on Sunday (30 January). It said it expected to have most of its customers reconnected today.

Meanwhile, residents in west Glasgow have been evacuated from their homes due to fears Storm Malik had exacerbated existing structural issues with the towers of Old Trinity College.

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council told PA that it would likely be “considerably longer than 24 hours” before residents could return home.

Additional reporting by PA