Commuters face travel disruption as Storm Isha tears through UK

Commuters face travel disruption to start the working week after Storm Isha tore through the UK, bringing warnings of possible tornadoes and danger-to-life winds.

Rush-hour trains have been axed for many, with 90mph gusts expected to cause more cancellations and delays for rail, air and sea travellers into Monday morning.

Multiple Met Office weather warnings, including two amber wind alerts and a red warning for parts of northern Scotland, have been issued until the early hours, while the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (Torro) said a tornado is “possible” in England and Wales.

A more serious “tornado watch” zone was in place for Northern Ireland, as well as parts of Scotland and northern England, but expired late on Sunday.

Damage to homes and buildings, falling trees, power cuts, flying debris, large waves and even some flooding in places should be expected into Monday morning, it was warned.

Agencies across Cumbria declared themselves on standby for a major incident, with Sellafield nuclear site closing as a precaution on Sunday.

Someone was struck by falling debris after scaffolding became dislodged in Belfast. They were treated at the scene by emergency services.

Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan said: “We’re expecting widespread gales to affect the UK, amber warnings are in place for large parts of the country.

“There’s the potential for danger-to-life and damaging winds potentially leading to some power cuts in places, some large waves around coastal regions could bring some debris onto roads and trees could come down.”

He added: “We have a wind warning in place across the whole of the UK, it’s pretty unusual for the whole of the country to be under a blanket wind warning.”

The Met Office said “everybody” has been affected by the storm.

It came as Network Rail imposed 50mph speed restrictions across most routes to keep passengers and trains safe from falling trees and debris blown onto tracks, with disruption likely to continue into Monday morning.

Scotland’s railway operator cancelled all of its rush-hour trains and services may not begin running until “later on Monday”.

East Midlands Railway has said delays and alterations to its services were “likely”, while no LNER trains will run north of Newcastle until midday.

Meanwhile, air traffic control restrictions were in place, leading to flight cancellations and causing some planes to divert.

A flight travelling from Sharm El Sheikh to Glasgow Airport declared an emergency due to Storm Isha.

A spokesperson for Glasgow Airport said the TUI flight was “diverted to Manchester due to current weather conditions”.

National Air Traffic Services (Nats) told PA: “Due to adverse weather conditions across the UK, temporary air traffic restrictions are in place. Restrictions of this sort are only every applied to maintain safety.

“Our teams are working closely with airports and airlines to minimise disruption. Passengers should check the status of their flight with their airline.”

It comes after the Met Office said 90mph winds hit Capel Curig in north Wales during Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, 76mph gusts were recorded in Loftus, North Yorkshire, and 75mph winds blasted Brizlee Wood, near Alnwick in Northumberland, and Emley in Huddersfield.

Heavy downpours battered some places, with 26 flood warnings in place in England and 27 in Scotland.

Storm Isha is the ninth named storm to hit the UK since the season began in September.

Each storm is named when it poses a risk to people and they are given names beginning with consecutive letters of the alphabet.

The record number of named storms in one year is when the Met Office began the practice in 2015/16, with Storm Katie being the 11th and final storm of the season.

If there are three more named storms between next week and August, this year will mark a new record.

Cold Arctic air pushing south into North America is making the jet stream more active, the Met Office said, and because it flows from west to east, it is bringing stormier weather to the UK.