LONDON(AFP) – Britain was braced on Sunday for its worst storm in a decade, with heavy rain and winds of more than 80 miles (130 kilometres) an hour set to batter the south of the country. The Met Office national weather centre warned of falling trees, damage to buildings and disruption to power supplies and transport when the storm hits overnight to Monday. Between 20 and 40 millimetres (0.8 to 1.6 inches) of rain is predicted to fall within six to nine hours starting on Sunday evening, with a chance of localised flooding. It will be followed by widespread gusts of 60 to 70 miles an hour across southern England and south Wales on Monday, with winds reaching more than 80 miles an hour in some areas, forecasters say. The Met Office issued an “amber” wind warning for the region, the third highest in a four-level scale, and urged people to delay their Monday morning journeys to work to avoid the worst of the bad weather. London’s rush-hour looked set to be chaotic after train companies First Capital Connect, C2C, Greater Anglia, Southern and Gatwick Express services all said they would not run services on Monday until it was safe to do so. That is likely to be after 9.00am (0900 GMT), according to forecasts. Major airports also warned of disruption to flights with London-hub Heathrow expecting approximately 30 cancellations Cross-channel train service Eurostar said it would not be running trains on Monday until 7.00am, meaning delays to early services. Several ferry operators said they had cancelled some cross-Channel services and Irish Sea crossings. Britain last experienced similar wind strengths in March 2008, but forecaster Helen Chivers told AFP the expected damage was more comparable with a storm seen in October 2002. Prime Minister David Cameron received an update from officials on contingency planning in a conference call on Sunday, amid fears of similar damage wrought by the “Great Storm” of October 1987. That left 18 people dead in Britain and four in France, felled 15 million trees and caused damages worth more than £1 billion ($1.6 billion or 1.2 billion euros at current exchange rates) as winds blew up to 115 miles an hour. Martin Young, chief forecaster at the Met Office, said: “While this is a major storm for the UK, we don’t currently expect winds to be as strong as those seen in the ‘Great Storm’ of 1987 or the ‘Burns Day storm’ of 1990.
“This weather system is typical of what we expect to see in winter but as it’s coming in during autumn — when trees are in leaf — and while the ground is fairly saturated, it does pose some risks. “We could see some uprooted trees or other damage from the winds and there’s a chance of some surface water flooding from the rainfall — all of which could lead to some disruption.” Veteran weather forecaster Michael Fish also said Sunday’s storm was unlikely to be as severe as 26 years ago, although his comments will be taken with a pinch of salt in Britain. Fish was the BBC’s main television weatherman in 1987 but famously denied that a major storm was on its way just hours before it hit. This year’s storm has been named St Jude after the patron saint of lost causes, whose feast day is on Monday. It is likely to affect northern France before heading off towards Denmark, forecasters said.Tuesday, 29 October 2013
About Chuck
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Ut odio. Nam sed est. Nam a risus et est iaculis adipiscing. Vestibulum ante ipsum faucibus luctus et ultrices.
View all posts by Chuck →
Advertise Here
Recent Posts
Add to Circle
Popular Posts
-
She is the younger sister of the embattled Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah. Long before the latter was appointed a minister, Jane Oduah-Ak...
-
THE suspended Chairman of the splitter group of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje yesterday bowed to pressure...
-
A ABIA (AB) NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, Umunna, Bende Local Government Area, Abia State. ADAMAWA (AD) NYSC Permanent Orientation Cam...
-
A formidable third force in the South-West which has intensified its efforts towards wresting power from the ruling All Progressives Congr...
-
We are a foreign language school in the town of Changxing, Zhejiang province. We are hiring 2 ESL teachers to join our school. The salary ...
-
While preparing and shopping for NYSC camp, there are some basic things to take into consideration. Some people, usually end up going wit...
-
As a well organized institution with quite great fame, Shanghai International Studies University Educational Center is looking for inter...
-
ABOUT EASY Easy International language school is looking for native qualified teachers ASAP. Weihai City is close to Tsingtao with 3 ho...
-
The House of Representatives has barred the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) from posting corps members to crisis-ridden states in a re...
Follow on FaceBook
Text Widget
SARTORIALUST
Giving the truth and not rumours
Pages
Powered by Blogger.
Our Network
Ads 468x60px
Followers
Blog Archive
-
▼
2013
(
137
)
-
▼
October
(
31
)
- Jonathan, Sambo, Tambuwal, Mimiko mourn ex-CGS
- CRIN crisis: Workers write FG, dismiss unions ban
- Intelligent light heralds new S-Class at Abuja fair
- Michael Jackson’s doctor released from jail
- Arik Air operational truck crushes staff, injures ...
- Boy, 14, rapes nine-year-old girl to death
- Anger as Oduah takes credit for BASA
- NIGERIA CASH-STRAPPED -FG •Jonathan to present N4....
- Nigeria Prisons Service trains 811 juveniles
- 4 French taken captive in Niger free after 3 years
- Jonathan notifies National Assembly on Budget 2014
- Oduah Now to Appear Before House Committee on Wedn...
- Worst storm in a decade to hit Britain overnight
- Sudden death: NMA calls for National check-up day
- Washington’s Big Brother diplomacy
- 76-yr-old woman escapes from kidnappers den
- Bayelsa’ll participate in funeral of First Lady’s ...
- Man, 37, accused of beating wife to death
- World Bank ranks Nigeria 122nd best place for busi...
- Chris Brown jailed for assault in Washington
- PHCN workers threaten fresh strike, give FG 4-day ...
- Mark’s comment ridicules Onosode – ASUU
- Police arrests four for beheading 5-year-old boy
- We don’t have armoured cars purchase documents – NCAA
- Igbo youths stage pro-Oduah protest in Enugu
- Canada begins compulsory fingerprint for Nigerian ...
- NGO to create 63,000 agric jobs in Kebbi
- Fire killed 24 Gombe residents in nine months –Agency
- Court okays today’s LG polls in Kwara
- Crude oil theft another face of terrorism – FG
- Policeman, NSCDC officer crushed while rescuing ac...
-
▼
October
(
31
)
0 comments: