‘Worst of Storm Bert yet to arrive’ amid gridlocked roads, cancelled flights and thousands of homes without power
Thousands of homes are without power, roads are flooded and flights have been cancelled – but the worst of Storm Bert is still to come, according to UK power officals.
Winds of up to 70mph are forecast to batter coastal areas and, as temperatures rise on Saturday, melting snow and heavy rain are causing flooding, reports the PA news agency.
The National Grid said about 4,000 homes in its region of the Midlands, south-west England and south Wales, are without power.
Ross Easton, of Energy Networks Association (ENA) – which represents the UK’s power network operators, said:
There are a few localised weather-related power cuts in parts of Britain this morning. However, for most parts of the country the severe weather hasn’t yet had a significant impact.
Forecasters are describing this as a ‘multi-hazard event’ with the worst of the weather yet to arrive, and so our members have extra engineers and contact centre teams available, and control rooms are monitoring the storm closely as it develops.”
The M48 Severn Bridge in Gloucestershire was closed because of strong winds, and the A66 in County Durham was closed both ways between the A67 and A645 due to snow.
Traffic has been at a standstill on the M80 near Castlecary, North Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Meanwhile, flights were disrupted at Newcastle airport as heavy snow hit the north-east overnight and into Saturday morning. Some arrivals were diverted to Belfast and Edinburgh while the airport’s snow team tried to minimise disruption.
Six weather warnings remain in place and Scots are being urged not to travel “unless absolutely necessary” as Storm Bert continues to cause travel disruption across the country. Forecasters have predicted as much as 40cm of snow on high grounds in Scotland as central areas remain in an amber alert for snow and ice until 5pm today.
Avanti West Coast has cancelled its service between Edinburgh and Carlisle all day on Saturday with the next direct service from Carlisle not scheduled to run until Sunday afternoon, reports the PA news agency.
Farther south, heavy showers are hitting England. The Met Office forecasts heavy rain developing overnight and into Sunday for south-west and southern England, stretching from Oxford to Truro. The yellow warning is in place from 6am Saturday until 11.45pm on Sunday and up to 70mm of rain could fall during this time.
There is a chance that some places over Dartmoor could see 100-150mm of rainfall, the national weather service said.
A wind warning covers coastal areas of southern England and Wales from 9am on Saturday until 9pm on Sunday.
UK Power Networks, the operator for the east and south-east of England, has warned people to stay away from overhead power lines amid the gusts.
Key events
Storm Bert has wreaked havoc on the domestic football calendar with Blackburn’s Championship clash against Portsmouth one of a number of games called off.
Bradford’s League Two game against Accrington and Fleetwood’s match with MK Dons have also been called off, reports the PA news agency. In the National League, the derby between Rochdale and Oldham and Halifax’s meeting with Sutton have also gone.
Blackburn called an 11am pitch inspection and a statement on their X feed said:
Due to an unplayable pitch caused by torrential rain, today’s match against Pompey at Ewood Park has been postponed by the match official.”
In Scotland, Rangers’ Ladbrokes Premiership clash with Dundee United was pushed back by 45 minutes to allow the visitors extra time to travel to Ibrox with delays on the roads expected.
Morton’s Championship game with Partick Thistle failed a morning pitch inspection and Airdrie’s clash with Livingston was also called off.
In League One, the games between Kelty Hearts and Arbroath, Cove Rangers and Stenhousemuir, Alloa and Dumbarton, and Queen of the South and Inverness were all called off with only the Montrose and Annan Athletic fixture surviving.
The League Two match between Bonnyrigg Rose and Stirling Albion plus Stranraer’s trip to Spartans were also postponed, according to the PA news agency.
A yellow alert for wind and rain warnings was in place for most counties in Ireland until midday on Saturday, but another status yellow warning will kick in from 5pm until 2am on Sunday for six counties: Cork, Kerry, Waterford, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford and Wicklow, reports the PA news agency.
Bridge Street in Killybegs, County Donegal, has been badly flooded after the storm and flooding incidents have also been reported in Galway, Limerick and Cork.
Rebecca Mullen of The Flour House bakery in Riverstick, Cork, told the PA news agency that Storm Babet flooded the bakery last October, and the bakery had flooded again after Storm Bert.
They had received grants from the Red Cross to help them through the last flood where a lot of damage was done. “Without those grants we really wouldn’t have a business today, it’s just really important that small businesses survive weather systems,” she told the PA news agency.
Mullen added:
Saturday is one of our busiest days, we’ve already had to cancel a market because of the weather system, so now we’ve obviously had to shut the shop today, so we’ll be losing money there.
I’ve done deliveries of cakes today where I can to the people who have ordered, but now it’s the clean up, its the cost of getting the staff back in, extra hours, working out what is salvageable and what isn’t.”
She said small businesses are already struggling because of rising costs such as the 13.5% VAT rate and staff pay. She said:
Every day counts. You can’t miss a day’s trade. I think that’s what’s going to really hurt us. Every single piece of coinage is required to get us through.”
In Northern Ireland, a yellow alert for rain and snow was in place across the region from midnight until 11am on Saturday, while a wind warning is in place until Saturday evening.
‘Worst of Storm Bert yet to arrive’ amid gridlocked roads, cancelled flights and thousands of homes without power
Thousands of homes are without power, roads are flooded and flights have been cancelled – but the worst of Storm Bert is still to come, according to UK power officals.
Winds of up to 70mph are forecast to batter coastal areas and, as temperatures rise on Saturday, melting snow and heavy rain are causing flooding, reports the PA news agency.
The National Grid said about 4,000 homes in its region of the Midlands, south-west England and south Wales, are without power.
Ross Easton, of Energy Networks Association (ENA) – which represents the UK’s power network operators, said:
There are a few localised weather-related power cuts in parts of Britain this morning. However, for most parts of the country the severe weather hasn’t yet had a significant impact.
Forecasters are describing this as a ‘multi-hazard event’ with the worst of the weather yet to arrive, and so our members have extra engineers and contact centre teams available, and control rooms are monitoring the storm closely as it develops.”
The M48 Severn Bridge in Gloucestershire was closed because of strong winds, and the A66 in County Durham was closed both ways between the A67 and A645 due to snow.
Traffic has been at a standstill on the M80 near Castlecary, North Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Meanwhile, flights were disrupted at Newcastle airport as heavy snow hit the north-east overnight and into Saturday morning. Some arrivals were diverted to Belfast and Edinburgh while the airport’s snow team tried to minimise disruption.
Six weather warnings remain in place and Scots are being urged not to travel “unless absolutely necessary” as Storm Bert continues to cause travel disruption across the country. Forecasters have predicted as much as 40cm of snow on high grounds in Scotland as central areas remain in an amber alert for snow and ice until 5pm today.
Avanti West Coast has cancelled its service between Edinburgh and Carlisle all day on Saturday with the next direct service from Carlisle not scheduled to run until Sunday afternoon, reports the PA news agency.
Farther south, heavy showers are hitting England. The Met Office forecasts heavy rain developing overnight and into Sunday for south-west and southern England, stretching from Oxford to Truro. The yellow warning is in place from 6am Saturday until 11.45pm on Sunday and up to 70mm of rain could fall during this time.
There is a chance that some places over Dartmoor could see 100-150mm of rainfall, the national weather service said.
A wind warning covers coastal areas of southern England and Wales from 9am on Saturday until 9pm on Sunday.
UK Power Networks, the operator for the east and south-east of England, has warned people to stay away from overhead power lines amid the gusts.
One of Scotland’s biggest bus firms has paused its services due to the impact of Storm Bert.
Lothian Buses, which operates the majority of routes in Edinburgh, as well as services in East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian, said buses had been halted due to safety concerns.
In a post on X, the firm said:
Due to adverse weather across the network, buses are unable to continue due to safety concerns.
We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused, and thank you for your patience while our teams work to assess routes.”
Ealier we reported on the flood alerts and warning issued across England and provided a link to a live Gov.uk map for updates.
Natural Resources Wales has an interactive map showing 31 flood alerts and one flood warning (River Loughor at Ammanford and Llandybie) currently.
Across Scotland, there are now six flood alerts and one flood warning (Churchill Barriers), according to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa). You can check live updates here.
The Irish meteorological service, Met Éireann, has a yellow wind warning for Cork, Kerry, Waterford, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford and Wicklow. It also has issued a yellow gale warning for all coasts of Ireland and on the Irish Sea. All warnings are updated here.
A yellow wind warning has also been issued by the Met Office for Northern Ireland. The Belfast Live is reporting “severe flooding” across Northern Ireland, citing the West Belfast MLA, Danny Baker:
Twinbrook, close to Aspen is completely blocked & Mckinstry/ 4 Laner/ Stewartstown Road now very dangerous.
Colin Connect is badly flooded and road just about passable, Michael Ferguson Roundabout/ Dunmurry Lane and bottom of Suffolk also flooded.
Everywhere is being reported but the impact is so severe this may take sometime and weather warnings are still in place. Please be careful.”
Here are some of the latest images from around the country:
Scots are being urged not to travel “unless absolutely necessary”.
As we’ve reported, major roads have been closed following multiple crashes, while trains and ferries have been cancelled amid strong winds, heavy rain, snow and ice.
Emergency services closed junctions 13 and 14 of the M74 following a crash at around 7am.
Traffic Scotland has warned of “extremely poor driving conditions” in the area.
The Met Office says:
Heavy snow will spread north-eastwards on Saturday morning, giving significant accumulations in many areas.
Accumulations of 10-20cm are likely on ground typically above 200m, with potentially as much as 20-40 cm on hills above 400m.
Snow will eventually revert to rain during Saturday afternoon but may be preceded by a short spell of freezing rain in places adding to the ice risk.
Strengthening winds will lead to drifting of lying snow, with difficult travelling conditions likely on higher level routes, and the risk of interruptions to power supplies.
A fairly rapid thaw of lying snow is then likely on Saturday night as milder air moves in.
The Queensferry Crossing across the Firth of Forth in Scotland has been closed as a safety precaution due to Storm Bert.
According to The Herald, the decision to close the crossing at 10.20am was made after ice was observed falling from the bridge’s stay cables above the carriageway. It cited the road maintenance and management firm, BEAR Scotland, as diverting drivers via the Forth Bridge.
Dave Bishop, BEAR Scotland’s south-east unit bridges manager, told the publication:
A diversion via the Forth Road Bridge is currently being opened and we expect traffic to be on the move again within the hour. Drivers are advised to adhere to Red X signs for safety or there could be longer wait times for the diversion to be activated.”
In a post on X at 10.35am, Traffic Scotland wrote:
The M90 is CLOSED in both directions for the safety reasons.
Traffic will instead divert on to the Forth Road Bridge. Traffic is slow on approach with traffic temporarily held to set-up the diversion.”
It also posted an update at 11.35am saying that the M80 northbound at juntion seven was blocked “due to two HGV’s which have lost traction”. It added that traffic was being held while gritters and ploughs treated the area.
Our pictures team have shared these images coming in this morning on the newswires:
A Championship football match in Lancashire has been postponed due to torrential rain, reports the PA news agency.
Blackburn Rovers were to face Portsmouth at Ewood Park at 3pm on Saturday but the match will now be played at a later date.
In a post on X, Blackburn Rovers said:
Due to an unplayable pitch caused by torrential rain, today’s match against Portsmouth at Ewood Park has been postponed by the match official.
We will announce details of the rearranged fixture in due course.”
Manchester airport and Edinburgh airport have told the PA news agency that they do not anticipate disruption due to Storm Bert.
A spokesperson for Manchester airport said:
If there are strong gusts when planes come in to land they might do a go around but we are not anticipating any disruption.”
49 flood alerts in place across England
According to the Gov.uk website, there are now 49 flood alerts across the England and one flood warning.
Flood alerts mean that flooding is possible, whereas a flood warning shows that flooding is expected. The flood warning in place is for rivers in Accrington and Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, with Gov.uk saying that heavy rain from Storm Bert is expected to cause flooding in those areas from 11am on Saturday morning.
The areas most at risk include the River Hyndburn, Woodnook and Broad Oak Water, Antley Syke, Pleck, Hynburn, Tinker, Lottice and Whiteash Brooks in Accrington and Oswaldtwistle. It adds that this is comprising Dunnyshop, Baxenden, Lower Fold, Peel Bank, Barnfield and Little Moor End.
Weather conditions are expected to improve this afternoon and no further flooding is expected, it states.
A live flood map is available on the Gov.uk website.
Here are some of the Storm Bert related images from the last 24 hours on the newswires:
Dublin airport has said that while “it’s wet and windy … flights are moving well”.
In an update at 10am on Saturday, via a social media post, Dublin airport said a “very small number” of departing flights had experienced delays due to wind conditions, but no flights have been cancelled so far.
It advised passengers to ontact their airline directly for updates regarding specific flights.
