Strong winds are expected to continue to sweep across Scotland and Northern Ireland this weekend (Picture: Phil Noble/Reuters)

High winds and rains are lashing across Scotland and Northern Ireland in a sign of what’s to come when Storm Emily arrives next week.

Gusts are reaching up to 80mph in Scotland with travel networks suffering the worst.

The Forth Bridge was closed to high-sided vehicles at 11am, while all CalMac ferry routes for western Scotland were severely disrupted and ScotRail services were affected by fallen trees.

A yellow wind warning was issued by the Met Office for the region, although winds are expected to ease off into the night and head northwards to the Orkneys into Sunday afternoon.




Some Christmas attractions in Edinburgh were closed because of the gale, and about 20 people were evacuated from Whitburn Social Club in West Lothian after tin roof sheeting was blown onto it from a nearby building, STV News reported.

There are currently severe delays to routes in and out of Glasgow, which includes flooding on the route to Gourock.

Staff at Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) were on standby in case the extreme windy weather wiped out power and in Omagh part of a supermarket roof blew off with police cordoning the area off to make it safe.

Last week Britain’s most serious tidal surge devastated many homes on the coast (Picture: Darren Staples/Reuters)

As motorists battle raging crosswinds and surface water in the north of the UK, the rest of the country is expecting to suffer with similar weather from next Thursday onwards.

Forecasters have warned that a storm bringing 90mph winds will hit central and southern Britain.

‘From Thursday to Christmas there is a high risk of gales,’ said Weather Channel meteorologist Leon Brown.

‘At the moment there is a 30 to 40 per cent risk of severe gales for central and southern Britain on Thursday.’

The storm is named after Emily Brontë, who will have been dead for 165 years on Thursday – the day the weather arrives.

It comes just days after the UK was battered by its biggest sea surge in 60 years.

More than 1,400 homes were flooded, while some were destroyed altogether.