Storm Darragh live: Millions told to stay home as red alert disrupts travel and sport

A Cardiff resident described a “superb effort” from a council that cleared a tree that fell during Storm Darragh, breaking windows and damaging the wall around a property.

Stuart Cox, 64, told the PA news agency that an approximately 50ft mature tree on Cathedral Road in the Welsh capital fell into his next door neighbour’s garden in the early hours of Saturday.

“It broke one window two doors down and destroyed next door’s gate. The only damage to ours was the front wall was forced sideways, making the wall unstable and unable to shut the gate,” the accountant said.

“The council teams moved to us, after clearing other trees, around 5.30am and were all done by 8am. Superb effort.”

Simon Calder, travel correspondent of The Independent, has been at London Paddington station since early today.

He reports: “Here at London Paddington, things have taken a turn for the worse since I got here at 6am. Many Great Western Railway lines are closed including Cardiff to Swansea and on to Carmarthen for the rest of the day, Plymouth to Penzance at least until lunchtime and all the GWR branch lines in Devon and Cornwall.

“Trains from Bristol are arriving up to 45 minutes late due to speed restrictions, which is triggering cancellations in the opposite direction. The train firm is now advising customers to change their plans if possible this weekend, and warning that fallen trees and other debris may also impact services.

“GWR has also issued a Do Not Travel notice for Sunday – but that is because of an expected shortage of train crew rather than bad weather. Anyone with a ticket for this weekend can use it on Monday.”

Flights are in disarray across the UK, with hundreds of cancellations and some extreme diversions.

Passengers due to be arriving at Manchester airport from Abu Dhabi on Etihad spend one hour flying around in circles waiting to land – and eventually diverted to Frankfurt in Germany.

The Boeing 777 is now expected to fly to Manchester at lunchtime. British Airways has made 70 short-haul domestic and European cancellations at London Heathrow, including multiple flights to and from Edinburgh, Jersey and Milan.

Belfast City has had at least 30 arrivals and departures cancelled to and from airports across Britain, including Cardiff, London Heathrow, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

At Belfast International the only cancellation so far is to and from Bristol.

At Bristol the early morning Ryanair arrival from Venice was diverted to London Stansted, and at least two dozen easyJet flights are grounded, including to Barcelona, Porto and Geneva.

The airline is telling passengers: “Following guidance from the UK Government to avoid travel within the Bristol area during the morning of 7 December, regrettable we’ve been unable to operate your flight today.”

On the Irish Sea, all sailings on P&O Ferries between Cairnryan and Larne are cancelled today.

Stena Line between Cairnryan and Belfast is cancelled until early evening. No Holyhead-Dublin or Fishguard-Rosslare ferries will operate all day on Stena Line. It’s a similar picture on Irish Ferries between Pembroke and Rosslare.

Cancellations on Caledonian MacBrayne ferries serving the Western Isles of Scotland are affecting Arran, Islay, Lewis, Mull and other islands. Many CalMac ferries are cancelled all day today.

Several shaky landings have been captured on camera as pilots attempt to touchdown in Heathrow amid Storm Darragh.

Big Jet TV, which regularly films livestreams from Heathrow, has captured several “go-arounds”, in which an aircraft trying to land on the runway aborts its attempt, instead flying back around the airport for another attempt.

Jerry Dyer, who runs the channel, has been frequently heard shouting “bosh” as the aircraft touch down, praising the pilots’ skills.

Huge trees were sent crashing on top of houses in Burnham-on-Sea as residents woke up to observe the damage wreaked by Storm Darragh overnight.

Trees fell on Rectory Road in the coastal town as the National Grid says around 4,684 people have lost power in Somerset.

Mountain climbers may want to take the day off with wind speeds of nearly 110mph expected on the top of Mount Snowdon.

The Met Office predicts 105mph into the evening on the Snowdon Summit as the UK braces for the impact of Storm Darragh.

Gusts of 93mph have already been recorded overnight in Capel Curig in North Wales, with 92mph in Aberdaron on the Llyn Peninsula.

Winds in other parts of Wales topped 80mph, while gusts of up to 77mph were recorded in Northern Ireland and south-west England, the forecaster said.

UK weather chasers have filmed themselves driving in dangerous conditions as trees fall down and huge waves crash into coastal areas across the south west.

The Met Office issued the red weather warning – the most serious type – on Friday for wind, meaning dangerous weather is expected and people are urged to take action to keep themselves and others safe.

The warning, which has led to the cancellation of events including Christmas attractions, is in place from 3am to 11am on Saturday.

The Met Office warned of “damaging winds” with gusts of 90mph possible over the coasts and hills of West and South Wales.

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