Storm Isha: Trains and flights cancelled as 100mph winds spark UK weather warnings

Watch The Independent’s live coverage as Storm Isha batters the coast off Porthlaven Harbour.

Storm Isha caused huge waves to crash into the flood defences of the port whilst cutting power to dozens of homes, downing trees and blocking roads across other areas of Devon and Cornwall.

It came as a wind speed of 91mph was recorded at Gwennap Head, near Land’s End, with up to 70mph recorded elsewhere around the region.

The National Grid said 73 homes in Cornwall and 138 homes in Devon were left without power.

A young woman has been tragically killed after her van crashes into a tree in Ireland as Storm Isha battered the region.

The victim, in her 20s, was a passenger in a van that collided with a tree at 1.50am, and was later pronounced dead at the scene by emergency services.

A second passenger in the van, a man in his 20s, has been hospitalised for what are believed to be non-life threatening injuries.

Gardaí are appealing for any witnesses to the incident in Carnalogue, Co Louth to come forward, including anyone who may have camera footage. Anyone with information is asked to contact Ardee station on 041 685 3222, or the garda confidential line on 1800 666 111.

It came after a man in his 40s died in a road crash in Co Mayo, which had been issued a status red storm warning, at about 6.15 pm.

The man was the driver and only occupant of a car that left the road during the treacherous storm. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Transport Scotland said the strongest gust recorded on its network overnight was 107mph on the Tay Bridge, with other locations seeing gusts of more than 70mph, while the Met Office said an 84mph gust was recorded at Salsburgh.

Martin Thomson, national operations manager for resilience at Transport Scotland, said: “Our resilience plans are in full effect. Staff from our trunk road operating companies are patrolling the network and undertaking inspections to respond quickly to any further treefall or blocked drains.

“Their proactive efforts this weekend in terms of branch cutting and drain clearing at vulnerable locations has helped minimise disruption this morning.

“A Met Office yellow warning for wind remains in effect for much of Scotland until midday – and our roads operatives are out there on the network in these difficult conditions doing all they can to respond to the worst impacts of Storm Isha.

“Across the wider network, we’ve seen ferry disruption, flight disruption and rail services remain suspended until Network Rail engineers visually inspect rail lines to ensure services are safe to resume.”

Many schools have been closed today as the UK woke up to major travel disruption caused by Storm Isha overnight.

Winds of up to 99mph have batted the country, with a “danger-to-life” amber weather warning issued by the Met Office in place until 6am this morning.

The strong winds resulted in tens of thousands of homes without power, including 45,000 in Northern Ireland, 8,000 in north-west England, and 3,000 in Wales.

A passenger has revealed jubilant scenes after his flight to Dublin was rerouted and forced to land in Paris amid the high winds of Storm Isha.

He took to Twitter to post a video after circling Dublin for half an hour and landing in France. He spoke over a traditional accordian after the forced landing in Paris Charles De Gaulle airport.

ScotRail has told the BBC train services are expected to reopen later on today as engineers work frantically to clear fallen trees off the track.

Customer operations director Phil Campbell says services will remain suspended until Network Rail has declared all routes safe.

“What they’ll be looking for is whether the overhead lines have been damaged, whether the track is safe and whether any debris has blown onto the rail estate,” he told BBC Radio Scotland.

“Between Garrowhill and Easterhouse, there’s over ten trees alone that need to be cleared from the line – and those trees are also blocking the overheads.

“So, there’s a significant volume of work for our colleagues at Network Rail to work through this morning.”

A top meteorologist has warned that climate change is leading to the “most intense storms” the UK has seen.

Met Office’s Clare Nasir told BBC Radio 4 : “Over the last six months we’ve seen some incredibly wet weather.

“At the start of the storm season in September 2023 was the most active start since we’ve been naming storms. Climate change trends are suggesting storms are becoming more intense when they arrive however the storm season the year before we only had two named storms.

“This rain has been relentless. Another climate change trend is the winters have been more wet and mild. Despite beginning 2023 with rainfall defecit and two heatwaves the country is losing resilience.

“When we’ve seen rain in autumn and winter we’ve not been able to cope with it with huge consequences for farmers.”

Footage from the airport shows the solitary suitcase being blown across the apron by heavy winds, as passengers watch on and laugh.

Many planes were grounded or re-routed, with one flight to Edinburgh ending up in Cologne, Germany, after it was unsafe to land in Scotland.

Flights are expected to resume at Scottish airports, but passengers are urged to check ahead before travelling.

Most of the UK was under amber alert from Sunday to Monday, but parts of northeast Scotland faced a rare red alert, indicating a likely risk to life.

Dublin Airport has grounded 29 flights in Storm Isha carnage.

An airport spokesman said 16 arrivals and 13 departures had been cancelled as some planes were “out of position”.

This includes the 9.05am flight to Liverpool, 8.55am flight to Memmingen and a 9.35am flight to London Stansted.