Trains, flights and ferries were canceled and thousands of people were left without power. on Tuesday, when Storm Bram brought heavy rain, strong winds and unusually mild temperatures to much of the United Kingdom.
A new amber warning for wind, indicating a possible danger to life, doIt came into force in north-west Scotland at 16:00 GMT, with gusts of up to 145 km/h (90 mph) possible until the early hours of Wednesday.
The less severe yellow warnings for wind that had covered the rest of Scotland, all of Northern Ireland, Wales and parts of England were due to expire in the morning.
As of 8pm, there were 60 flood warnings across the UK, 30 in England, 17 in Wales and 13 in Scotland.
He The storm brought exceptionally mild air, with some regions recording temperatures as high as 16 °C (60 °F), significantly higher than the December average of 5 to 9 °C.
In Scotland, several ferry routes on the west coast were canceled or disrupted, while ScotRail announced some trains in the north west would end early with delays and speed restrictions in other parts of the country.
Some Scottish schools closed early due to the forecast.
The new amber warning for very strong and disruptive winds for north-west Scotland and the Western Isles came into force at 4pm and was due to last until 3am on Wednesday, while new yellow wind warnings for the rest of the country were expected to begin from midnight.
ReutersNorthern Ireland was covered by the least severe yellow wind warning until 10pm, with dozens of flights between the island of Ireland and Great Britain canceled throughout the day.
The University of Ulster closed some of its campuses and schools were asked to monitor weather warnings in their areas.
A yellow wind warning also covered all of Wales until 7pm, where serious travel disruption was reported.
The M48 Severn Bridge was closed due to high winds, leaving drivers in heavy traffic, as the alternative Prince of Wales Bridge, which connects Wales and England along the M4, was closed from 8pm so that streetlights at risk of collapse could be removed.
Several rail services were disrupted when flooding closed all lines between Aberdare and Abercynon in the south, while services between Llandudno and Blaenau Ffestiniog in the north were canceled after a train collided with a tree that had fallen on the other side of the line.
A Transport for Wales spokesman said there were 17 passengers on board at the time. It is unknown if anyone was injured.
Public address mediaBoth South Wales and South West England had seen heavy rain overnight on Tuesday and were covered by amber warnings until 10am.
BBC South West senior meteorologist David Braine said Dartmoor in Devon had seen almost a month’s worth of rain in the previous 48 hours.
Many homes in Totnes were flooded when the River Dart, which carries water from Dartmoor, rose with rainwater. The rain also disrupted rail services, including some services to London.
Great Western Railway reported cancellations in the west of England due to flooding between:
- Pair and Newquay
- Totnes and Plymouth
- Swindon and Bristol Parkway
National Rail warned that some Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway and TransPennine Express services were affected, with full details available on its website.
Thousands in England and Wales were was left powerless. As of 4:30 p.m., just over 4,000 properties were without power, according to National Grid.
Storm Bram follows Storm Amy in October, which caused travel disruption, power outages and storm damage to thousands of homes across the UK.
Storm Bram, named by Ireland’s national weather service Met Éireann, is expected to cause continued disruption throughout Tuesday before clearing on Wednesday.
Why is Storm Bram following Storm Claudia?
Storm Bram is the fourth named storm to hit the UK this season, following Amy, Benjamin and Claudia. So why did meteorologists go back to the letter B?
It all comes down to how storms are named and who actually names them, says BBC chief weather presenter Matt Taylor.
The UK Met Office, Ireland’s Met Éireann and the Netherlands’ KNMI team up to track major storms. Storms are named when they are expected to have a significant impact on at least one of the countries in the group and are not based on rainfall or wind speed thresholds.
The alphabetical list of storm names is decided jointly by the group each year, following public submissions. Storm Bram is only the second storm named by the group this season, with Bram’s name announced by the Irish Meteorological Service.
Benjamin was named by the French meteorological service and Claudia by the Spanish service due to the impacts that low pressure systems would have on those nations first.
