Storm Darragh forces people to flush toilet with rainwater

It’s time to end Metro’s Storm Darragh blog for today – thank you for following our coverage.

In case you missed it, here is the latest news from the storm today:

• More than 50 flood warnings, where flooding is expected, are still in place across England and Wales.
  The first victim of Storm Darragh’s destruction, a ‘wonderful’ football coach from Lancashire, was named.
• West Ham striker Michail Antonio, who crashed in his Ferrari during Storm Darragh on Saturday, underwent surgery on a lower limb fracture, his club said in a statement on X.
• Travel disruption and power cuts have persisted throughout the day and will continue into tomorrow.
• 118,922 properties remain without power as of 2pm, although the National Grid said power has been restored to over 1,300,000 customers. 15,000 homes are also lacking power in Northern Ireland.
• National Highways said the M48 at Severn Bridge will remain closed in both directions between J1 and J2 until winds decrease.
• Network Rail said that Storm Darragh ‘wrecked havoc’ on the railway, with journeys between Stoke and Stafford suspended while repairs take place.
• Several flights from Heathrow Airport have been cancelled and delayed due to the strong winds.
• Storm Darragh has caused devastation across the UK. A roof was torn off a rugby club in Wales and a farmer told Metro that his farm in Northern Ireland has been ‘destroyed’.

A farm on the Northern Irish coast has been ‘destroyed’ by Storm Darragh’s devastating winds.

Costa Haughian, who works on the farm in Longstone, County Down Northern Ireland, told Metro: ‘The roof blew completely off of our sheds and into our grandmothers house breaking a window and some slates.

‘Luckily all livestock and everything is fine. A piece of the roof stormed in and went through the bonnet of one of our cars but that’s the only damage to vehicles luckily.

‘We live right on the coast and so the wind hits us hard but this is the worst we had ever seen it.’

Costa, who said he almost died driving home due to fallen trees ‘in the middle of the road’, plans to rebuild the roof over the coming week.

Costa posted a video (below) on TikTok of the destruction.

The first victim killed in the Storm Darragh destruction has been named as tributes poured in for the ‘kind’ football coach.

Read more below.

A family in Devon, who have faced a power outage for the last 27 hours, have told Metro they are ‘struggling’ as they are unable to heat their home.

Deb Knowles claimed that she and other neighbours have been calling and messaging National Grid to address the issue.

Deb, who lives in Exton, Devon, said: ‘It’s getting pretty cold. One of my kids is sick, I’m sick. It is not a great situation to be in.

‘It’s obviously chilly now, the kids have been unable to shower and unable to do homework.

‘The strange thing is, the area I am in wasn’t really hit bad. It was gusty and a little windy but nothing dramatic. So I’ve no idea why we are in the power outage.’

After her story was posted by Metro, she said that the National Grid updated their website to include her area. They hope to restore power by 12pm tomorrow.

118,922 properties were without power as of 2pm, according to National Grid UK Customers (ex-WPD).

A National Grid Electricity Distribution spokesperson said: ‘Storm Darragh has hit us particularly hard with strong winds and flying debris damaging overhead power lines and equipment.

‘We’d like to thank customers for bearing with us as we deal with an unprecedented number of calls.

‘Customers can report power cuts via our website or check our live power cuts map for details of incidents across our region.    

‘We’ve restored power supplies to 1.4m customers and our teams are working around the clock to get customers reconnected.’

Storm Darragh has caused ‘severe damage’ to West Coast Main Line railway, according to National Rail.

Journeys between Stoke and Stafford will not run as engineers remove a large fallen tree and repair the damage to overhead line.

Gary Walsh, Network Rail’s West Coast South route director, said: ‘This weekend, Storm Darragh wreaked havoc on the railway. We’ve got teams working up and down the West Coast Main Line removing debris that’s causing obstructions to passenger and freight services.

‘We apologise to passengers that there are no train services available between Stafford and Stoke while complex repairs to our overhead line equipment are made on this critical part of the West Coast Main Line. Passengers looking to travel between Stoke and Stafford should check with their train operator for the latest travel information.’

High pressure will return to the UK next week, starting in Scotland on Monday, according to the Met Office.

Northern Ireland and Scotland will be ‘fine and dry’ on Monday, while clouds, brisk winds and showers are expected in England and the southeast in particular.

High pressure will then dominate with clouds and patchy rain forecast on Tuesday.

Scotland will see ‘the best sunshine’ on Wednesday, with cold fog expected in parts of the country for much of the week,

118,922 properties remain without power as of 2pm, according to National Grid UK Customers (ex-WPD).

Power has been restored to over 1,300,000 customers since Storm Darragh hit, the company said in a post on X.

Almost 26,000 saw power supply resume since the earlier update at 8am today.

National Grid UK Customers, which covers Midlands, South West England and South Wales, previously said their field times are ‘extremely busy’ working to address the power outages.

Field Operations Director Roisin Quinn said: ‘We would like to thank customers for their patience while waiting for power to be restored.

‘I’d also like to thank our staff for their unwavering efforts to restore power to our customers.

‘We have teams who have been working long hours away from their own homes to get the lights back on in challenging conditions and we are grateful to them for that.’

A number of departure flights from Heathrow Airport have been cancelled or delayed as Storm Darragh gives passengers a bumpy ride.

A Lufthansa flight to Munich, a Turkish Airways journey to Istanbul, as well as a Swiss international flight to Zurich all appear as cancelled on the Heathrow departure board.

A Gulf Air plane to Bahrain and a flight to Singapore will also not be taking off.

The majority of flights are scheduled as ‘on time’, however hundreds of passengers will be facing delays as well, including on British Airways.

BA flights to Hannover, Amsterdam, Milan and Rome are all delayed, with more postponed journeys in store for the remainder of the evening.

Videos from UK airports have shown planes encountering precarious landings due to strong winds from Storm Darragh.

The M48 Severn Bridge remains closed in both directions between J1 and J2 due to strong winds from Storm Darragh, National Highways have confirmed.

Wind gusts of up to 47mph on the bridge have forced it to close, according to their post on X.

National Highways said about Severn Bridge: ‘We’re constantly monitoring wind speeds but at present strong winds are expected to remain until later this evening.’

The M4 Prince of Wales across the Severn remains open but there are traffic delays due to resurfacing and repair works.

West Ham United striker Michail Antonio has undergone surgery on a lower limb fracture after he was involved in a car crash on Saturday.

Antonio’s car ‘spun out of control’ on a slippery road in Theydon Bois, Essex after getting caught in heavy wind and rain caused by Storm Darragh on Saturday.

Antonio will continue to be monitored in hospital over the coming days, his football club announced in a statement on X on Sunday afternoon. Read more about it here:

A woman near Exton, Devon, said she feels ‘frustrated’ and ‘annoyed’ after struggling to contact National Grid to report a power cut since 5pm on Saturday due to Storm Darragh.

Deb Knowles, 43, told the PA news agency she was lighting candles and using a torch in her house on Saturday, and decided to take her unwell children to her mother’s house on Sunday.

‘My mum is in remission and catching this flu or chest infection would be dangerous for her, but I have no choice, the kids need warmth, hot water and food,’ she said.

She said: ‘I’ve been pretty much trying all night, all this morning, all day, to call the 105 number to report the outage, because on the website it’s saying that there is no known outage, so I don’t know if they know that we have nothing.’

‘I feel very annoyed and very frustrated,’ she said when asked how she feels about not being able to get through to National Grid, adding she has spoken to her neighbours and they are “all in the same sort of situation”.

A woman near Rackenford, Devon, has said her family were lighting candles in the ‘pitch black’ after going more than 24 hours without power due to Storm Darragh.

Theresa White, 55, told the PA news agency that the power went out at 12.30pm on Saturday and the family were without water other than one tap, forcing them to collect rainwater to flush the toilets.

‘We had no internet and all our phone signals weren’t working, so we were basically cut off and we do live in a wooded area,’ she said, adding they were too scared to leave the house on Saturday in case a tree fell on them.

Ms White said she initially felt ‘a bit let down’ to be told by EDF that power would not be restored until 8pm on Monday, but the power returned at around 3pm on Sunday.

Residents in Herefordshire are struggling with rising floodwaters after Storm Darragh caused the nearby River Wye to burst its banks.

Water levels are expected to peak at around 5.1m-5.4m deep on Sunday evening.

In a post on X, Council leader Diana Toynbee said: ‘A worrying day for residents of #Greyfriars #Hereford the #Wye now at 5.3 metres and still rising.

‘Predicted to peak “this evening”.

A rugby club in Wales has seen its roof torn off by gale-force winds caused by Storm Darragh – narrowly missing bystanders and parked cars.

Club members of Briton Ferry RFC watched in horror as the roof flew off the building and caused damage to the surrounding area.

Video footage from the club, posted online on Saturday, saw three large pieces of roofing ripped from the clubhouse and smash into nearby parked cars while a bystander watches on.

Club secretary Kerry Frey said they were ‘very lucky nobody was seriously injured’.

Strong winds will continue to batter the UK throughout Sunday, the Met Office has annoucned.

The forecaster has issued a fresh yellow wind warning for the whole of England and Wales, which came into force at 6am and is in place until 6pm on Sunday.

More than 50 flood warnings are still in place across England, the Environment Agency has announced, and more than 130 flood alerts have been issued across England throughout Sunday morning.

Rail services across the country have announced further delays as they continue to deal with the aftermath of the storm.

Avanti West Coast have said all lines are between Wolverhampton and Stafford are closed due to a tree blocking the line, with disruption expected to last until the end of the day.

A felled tree has also halted South Western Railway services in Surrey, with lines between Guildford, Effingham Junction and Farncombe facing delays or changes until the end of the day.

Ferry services between Portsmouth and Fishbourne have also been cancelled, Wightlink have announced.

However, all rail lines in Northern Ireland have been reopened although some speed restrictions are in place, provider Translink has announced.

Network operations manager Alex Houston said: ‘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.’

North Yorkshire Police are searching for an 85-year-old man who was last seen going to the shops yesterday.

Barry Walsh was last seen in Eggborough, where he left his home to go to the village shop at 5pm.

Police said he was driving a grey Honda Jazz and is described as 5ft 7ins tall, of slight build and has glasses, blue eyes and grey hair.

He may be wearing grey trousers, black leather shoes, blue jumper and a thin black coat.

Eggborough, which is 17 miles south east of the city of Leeds, faced severe winds and rain during Storm Darragh yesterday.

Leeds closed its Christmas market on Saturday ahead of the storm and it reopened today.

The National Grid has revealed that over 144,000 homes and business across the country are still without power since the beginning of the storm.

In a post on X, Roisin Quinn, Field Operations Director at National Grid Electricity Distribution, said: ‘The adverse weather has made working conditions for our engineers challenging but they are continuing to make progress tackling faults and to get people’s power back on as speedily and safely as they can.’

‘We also have contact centre staff on hand to provide customers with information about power cuts in their area, and staff proactively contacting our Priority Services customers to ensure they are safe and well.’

Around 58,000 homes in Wales are still without power, with Natural Resources Wales (NRW) claiming 21 flood warnings are still in effect.

Scottish Power have reported numerous outages in its area, mainly across north and mid Wales, and say power in some places will not be restored until Monday.

National Rail has announced that due to ongoing fallout from the storm, there will be ‘significant disruption’ across all rail lines throughout the day.

Travellers are being advised to regularly check for updates before setting off on their journey.

In Northern Ireland, train lines are beginning to reopen but thousands of homes remain without power after being battered by Storm Darragh over the weekend.

Around 48,000 people were left without power on Saturday after the power grid wa damaged by winds of up to 70mph.

This morning, NIE Networks announced that approximately 15,000 homes are still lacking power, and that it may take several days to get every home hooked back up to the national grid.

Community assistance will be available across Northern Ireland on Sunday beween 14:00 to 16:00, with leisure centres in the following areas offering assistance to those still without power:

• South Lake Leisure Centre in Craigavon
• Lagan Valley Leisureplex in Lisburn
• Ards Blair Mayne in Newtownards
• Seven Towers in Ballymena
• Cookstown Leisure Centre
• Kilkeel Leisure Centre
• Fermanagh Lakeland Forum

The centres will offer warm drinks, charging and changing facilities, and Red Cross volunteers will be working with NIE Networks staff to provide support and answer any questions.