Trains, flights and ferries have been cancelled and thousands left without power as Storm Bram brought heavy rain, strong winds and unseasonably mild temperatures to large parts of the UK.
Amber warnings for wind, which mean a possible danger to life, are in place in part of Northern Ireland and northern Scotland, where forecasters say gusts could reach speeds of 90mph (145 km/h).
Yellow warnings for wind are in place across Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, as well as northern and south-west England.
As of 17:25 GMT, there were 90 flood warnings in place across the UK, with 37 flood warnings in England, 20 in Wales and 33 in Scotland.
The storm has brought exceptionally mild air to the country, with some regions registering temperatures as high as 16C (60F) – significantly higher than the December average of 5-9C.
In Scotland, several ferry routes on the west coast were cancelled or face disruption, ferry operator CalMac has warned.
ScotRail announced that some trains in the north west would finish early and said there would be speed restrictions and delays in other parts of the country.
The Met Office issued an amber warning for very strong and disruptive winds in northwest Scotland between 16:00 and 23:59 on Tuesday.
Some Scottish schools closed early due to the forecast.
An amber wind warning in Northern Ireland is due to last until 20:00.
Dozens of flights between the island of Ireland and Great Britain were cancelled.
Ulster University in Northern Ireland closed some of its campuses, while the country’s Education Authority asked schools to monitor and assess the weather warnings in their areas.
In Wales, a yellow warning covers the whole of the country until 19:00.
South Wales and south-west England saw heavy rain overnight, with both regions covered by amber warnings that expired at 10:00 on Tuesday.
BBC South West’s senior broadcast meteorologist David Braine said Dartmoor in Devon saw almost a month’s worth of rainfall over the past 48 hours.
Many houses in Totnes were flooded as the River Dart – which carries water from Dartmoor – grew swollen with rainwater.
Rail services, including some services to London, have been disrupted in both areas because of the rain.
In the west of England, Great Western Railway is reporting cancellations due to flooding between:
- Par and Newquay
- Totnes and Plymouth
- Swindon and Bristol Parkway
In Wales, various Transport for Wales services are experiencing disruptions: Flooding has led to the closure of all lines between Aberdare and Abercynon. Some rail replacement coaches are operating.
National Rail has warned some Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway and TransPennine Express services are affected – with the full details available on its website.
Thousands in England and Wales have been left without power. As of 16:30, just over 4,000 properties had no electricity, according to National Grid.
Storm Bram follows Storm Amy in October, which caused travel disruption, power cuts and storm damage to thousands of homes across the UK.
Named by Ireland’s national weather service, Met Éireann, Storm Bram is expected to cause ongoing disruption throughout Tuesday before clearing on Wednesday.
Storm Bram is the fourth named storm to hit the UK this season, after Amy, Benjamin and Claudia – so why did forecasters go back to the letter B?
It comes down to how storms are named and who actually names them, BBC lead weather presenter Matt Taylor says.
The UK’s Met Office, Ireland’s Met Éireann and KNMI in the Netherlands group together to track major storms. Storms are named when they are expected to have a significant impact in at least one of the countries in the group, and are not based on any rainfall or wind speed thresholds.
The alphabetic storm name list is decided jointly by the group every year, following submissions from the public. Storm Bram is only the second storm to be named by the group this season, with the Irish weather service announcing Bram’s naming.
Benjamin was named by the French weather service, and Claudia by the Spanish service because of the impacts the low pressure systems would have in those nations first.
