Bad weather causes travel chaos and leaves more than 1,000 homes without power

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Storm Callum has battered parts of the UK with winds of up to 76mph and torrential rain, leaving more than 1,000 homes without electricity.

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The Isles of Scilly endured the fiercest gusts, as the third named storm of the season swept through south-west England, Wales and north-west England, while 60mph winds lashed Camborne in Cornwall and Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire.

The Met Office said flooding and travel disruption were likely across the UK. It issued a 36-hour amber warning for much of south Wales, noting that heavy rain could pose a risk to life. Yellow warnings were expected to remain in place until midnight in the rest of Wales and swaths of northern England and southern Scotland.

On Friday morning, the yellow warning was extended to cover more of south-west England, eastern Wales, western parts of the Midlands, northern and north-east England and south-east Scotland. The Environment Agency issued two warnings of flooding across the south coast of England and more than 20 flood alerts.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Waves whipped up by Storm Callum lash the Dorset coast, West Bay. Photograph: Tom Corban/Rex/Shutterstock

More than 2,000 homes in parts of Cumbria and Lancashire were left without power for several hours on Friday as the storm swept across the north-west of England.

Western Power Distribution said there were outages at more than 950 homes in south-west England and nearly 100 in south Wales. In Northern Ireland, hundreds of homes and businesses experienced a loss of electricity.

Some flights were cancelled at Cardiff and Exeter airports, while rail passengers in Wales and the south-west of England were warned of disruption to services amid high winds.

Cheshire police said they had received several weather-related calls on Friday morning, while the Isle of Man constabulary warned motorists of difficult driving conditions.

T/Supt Mark Armstrong (@NWPMArmstrong) Certainly an interesting drive in to work this morning #StormCallum



A lot of tree debris down across the region, and high winds and rain making driving difficult in places. Please follow @NWPolice for further updates pic.twitter.com/ogHZCctvPp

The Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said: “We’ve got a wind warning which covers all the western side of the UK. That in itself is likely to bring disruption to roads and there is likely to be some bridge closures and power outages. We also have yellow and amber warnings of between 50mm and 150mm of rain for Wales. That’s quite a substantial amount of rain to come and could bring flooding.”

Sioned Warrell, the duty tactical manager for Natural Resources Wales, said: “The forecast rain could cause flooding this week, especially in south and west Wales, and we are urging people to prepare themselves. Our teams are doing all they can to reduce the risk for communities, but if there is flooding we want to make sure people are doing all they can to keep themselves safe.”

Though Windsor escaped the worst of the storm, guests arriving for the royal wedding were buffeted by high winds, with some hats blown off.

The south-east of England is expected to stay mainly dry, bright and windy, with temperatures climbing to 24C (75F).

• This article was amended on 18 October 2018 to correct the spelling of Alex Burkill’s surname.