Woman in her 40s in hospital in Scotland as fallen trees bring travel disruption

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A woman is being treated in hospital after high winds caused by Storm Hector struck the UK.

The woman, in her 40s, was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for treatment after emergency services were called to Dalry Road in the Scottish capital at about 9.40am on Thursday.

Fallen trees have caused widespread travel disruption. In Northern Ireland, a gust of 74mph in Orlock Head was just 2mph shy of the June record for the region, the Met Office said.

ScotRail said “chainsaw gangs” and overhead line teams had been deployed across the rail network to remove fallen trees and branches that were causing delays and cancellations to services.

Areas affected include Stirling, Partick, Ayrshire and North Lanarkshire.

The Forth Road Bridge was closed to doubledecker buses and only cars were being allowed to cross the Tay Bridge.

In England, police closed the Tees flyover to high-sided vehicles and the Shields Ferry across the Tyne was not operating.

The storm brought heavy rain to parts of Cumbria with 3.2in (80mm) falling in the region and 5.1in (130mm) in the Isle of Skye in the past 24 hours.

Yellow “be aware” warnings were in place for Scotland, the north of England and Northern Ireland, but by 3.30pm the Met Office said the worst of Hector had passed. However, it warned that those in the north should still expect blustery and showery weather.

The wind gave a boost to Britain’s electricity supply. Official figures showed that in the 30 minutes before 10am on Thursday, 34.5% of Britain’s electricity came from wind – far higher than the 6% recorded on previous, calmer days.

A much weaker weather front is expected to follow after Storm Hector passes out into the North Sea.



The outlook for Saturday is similar, with the possibility of thunder. Sunday is expected to be the best day of the weekend, when the forecast is for dry weather with hazy sunshine.

The Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern said: “The wettest weather will be out of the way but there will be some blustery showers following and with the yellow warning in force disruption is possible.



“Further spells of rain will push their way into Scotland through the night before clearer skies open out by the start of Friday.”