Thousands of homes were left without power in Wales, the Midlands and southern and eastern England, while rail services were disrupted as Storm Barney struck Britain.

Barney – the second UK storm strong enough to be named – saw winds peak on Tuesday, before conditions calmed down overnight. The highest winds were recorded at 83mph in coastal areas of north Wales, while gusts of 66mph registered in the villages of Weybourne in Norfolk and Wittering, near Peterborough in Cambridgeshire.

A two-storey block of flats in Leigh, Greater Manchester, was evacuated after part of the roof collapsed. Firefighters were called to the scene at 7.45pm and the road was later closed by police as fire crews ensured that people were safe.



In Birmingham, winds felled a metal advertising tower at the Fort Shopping Park, although nobody was hurt. A fallen tree near Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire caused delays of about an hour on the route between London Liverpool Street and Stansted airport, with buses being laid on instead.

Rail services were hit by trees blown on to lines and overhead power cables, affecting several services in Birmingham, Staffordshire, Bedford and London, said National Rail. London Midland said fallen trees had halted all its rush-hour services between Lichfield in Staffordshire, Coseley in the West Midlands, and Birmingham.

In the West Midlands, 2,500 homes lost electricity, according to Western Power Distribution, and Welsh residents were also badly affected. Tens of thousands of homes in Ireland were left without electricity on Tuesday while flights and ferry crossings were disrupted. Winds damaged electricity cables, knocking out power to more than 45,000 homes at one point before engineers began to restore power.

Ireland’s national meteorological service, Met Éireann, had issued an orange weather warning, the second-highest level, for most of Tuesday. Irish police said a tree fell on a bus and car and other pictures shared on social media showed felled trees and debris on roads across the country.

Flights to Cork, Dublin and Shannon airports were affected by a number of cancellations, delays and diversions. A number of ferries to and from Wales across the Irish Sea were also cancelled because of the conditions.

Before Barney struck, people were warned against posing for “storm selfies” that could put their lives in danger.

Neil Davies, duty flood risk manager at the Environment Agency, said: “The power of mother nature is a fascination to us all – and taking storm selfies may seem exhilarating – but over the last few years we’ve had an increasing number of people putting themselves and family members at severe risk along coastal paths and promenades.”

Last year, coastal flooding led to people taking risks to capture images of the sea, while videos of people getting swept along roads by waves became internet hits.

Last week, Storm Abigail left more than 20,000 homes without power and schools closed in Shetland and the Western Isles as it swept across Britain. The Highlands and Islands were worst hit by gusts of 84mph, while the rest of the UK experienced thundery showers as a result of Britain’s first named storm.

The Met Office said that after further spells of wet and windy weather in the second half of the week temperatures were expected to drop as colder air moves across the UK from the north.

“This will make it feel much colder compared to recently,” said the Met, “with temperatures close to or a little below average and bring some wintry showers or snow to higher ground in the north.”