Red weather warning issued as Storm Darragh set to bring 90mph winds

A severe red wind weather warning has been issued for parts of the UK, with gusts of 90mph expected.

The Met Office has said “damaging winds” associated with Storm Darragh are expected to cause “significant disruption” as the weekend begins.

Flying debris and fallen trees could pose a “danger to life” while large waves and beach material could be thrown on to coastal roads and seafronts.

The warning covers coastal areas of Wales and the South West of England, including Cardiff, Bristol and Devon, and is in place from 3am-11am on Saturday.

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Forecasters predict the strongest winds will begin to ease from late morning.

Three million people in areas covered by the red warnings received a text alert with information on how to stay safe when it was issued by the Cabinet Office at 6.45pm.

Anyone with a compatible phone will have received the message, in what was the largest use of the alert system outside a test scenario.

Red weather warnings are the most serious type, and are only issued by forecasters when “dangerous weather” is expected.

“It is very likely that there will be a risk to life, with substantial disruption to travel, energy supplies and possibly widespread damage to property and infrastructure,” the Met Office website states.

A separate red warning for wind has also been issued by the Irish meteorological service, Met Eireann.

It covers coastal areas of Ireland including Mayo, Galway, Donegal, Leitrim and Sligo and comes into force from Friday evening until early Saturday morning.

“A period of extremely strong winds will develop during the early hours of Saturday morning as Storm Darragh moves across the Irish Sea,” the Met Office said.

“Gusts of 90mph or more are possible over coasts and hills of west and south Wales, as well as funnelling through the Bristol Channel with some very large waves on exposed beaches.

“The strongest winds will begin to ease from late morning, though it will remain very windy with Amber wind warnings still in force until the evening.”

Football postponements

Cardiff City and Newport County, two Welsh clubs who play in the English Football League (EFL), have postponed their matches, both scheduled for Saturday.

All of Saturday’s games in Wales have been called off by the Football Association of Wales and the Welsh Rugby Union has postponed all the day’s community rugby fixtures across all ages.

Heavy rain, flooding and snow also expected

Two amber warnings for wind and a swathe of yellow warnings also remain in place covering Northern Ireland, the west coast of England, Wales and parts of Scotland on Saturday.

Snow is expected in large parts of central Scotland, with a Met Office yellow weather warning in place from 8pm Friday evening until 9am on Saturday.

Parts of Wales and Northern Ireland are also covered by rain warnings. Similar areas were badly hit by Storm Bert late last month.

An amber warning is in place for southern parts of Wales from 3am to 6pm on Saturday, with 20-30mm expected to fall in three to six hours.

Up to 90mm of rain is expected overall, which may lead to some flooding and disruption, the Met Office said.

Rain in parts of Scotland, including Glasgow and Edinburgh, and some of the North East of England may also cause disruption on Saturday.

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Bus and train services are likely to be affected and spray on the roads may make journey times longer.

At the time of writing, seven flood warnings and 98 flood alerts had been issued by the Environment Agency for England, while six flood alerts were in place across Wales and 11 in Scotland.