A woman is dead in Ireland after strong winds blew her caravan off a cliff during a heavy storm.

Irish police said the woman had been sleeping in the caravan when it fell from the cliff at Claddaghduff in County Galway yesterday.

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Her body was found on the beach below.

"A search was carried out at the scene on the beach and after a short time the body of a female in her 50s was recovered," police said.

Rain and winds of more than 95 kilometres per hour have lashed Ireland and parts of Scotland and England in recent days.

The storm, dubbed Storm Ali, has left around 55,000 homes and businesses without power, mainly in the south-west of Ireland, and caused disruptions to rail, road and ferry traffic across Scotland.

In the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, a section of one of the main city thoroughfares, Princes Street, had to be closed after parts of a shop roof were torn off by strong winds.

British media also reported several cases of high winds toppling trees, in some cases onto cars.

ABC/wires