A man in his 50s has died after a tree fell onto a caravan in Helston, Cornwall, during Storm Goretti. Emergency services were called at around 7.35pm on Thursday to the Mawgan area, where the man was found dead. His death is not being treated as suspicious, and his next of kin have been informed.
The incident occurred while a rare red weather warning for dangerous, stormy gusts was in force across Cornwall. The tree was removed on Friday. Meanwhile, yellow warnings for wind, rain, snow, and ice remain in place across the UK for the rest of the weekend, with National Rail warning of possible disruption to train travel until Monday.
A new amber alert for snow has been issued by the Met Office for parts of Scotland, including Aberdeenshire, Moray, Central Tayside and Fife, and Highland, in effect from 3am to 2pm on Sunday. Forecasters predict 2cm to 5cm of snowfall at low levels, with up to 30cm above 300m elevation, and possible blizzard conditions and deep drifts.
Yellow warnings for snow and ice cover much of Scotland, the East and West Midlands, north-east and north-west England, and Yorkshire from 2am to 3pm on Sunday, with 2cm to 5cm of snow likely and 10-20cm possible above 200m. Rain warnings are in place for south-west Scotland, Lothian Border, Strathclyde, and north-eastern Scotland, with up to 110mm of rain possible in some areas. Wind alerts for much of Scotland could bring gusts of up to 70mph.
In response to water supply issues following the storm, Environment Minister Mary Creagh described the situation as “entirely unacceptable” and said the government has increased compensation rates for affected customers. South East Water reported that customers in East Grinstead, West Sussex, may not see supplies restored until the end of the weekend. In Cornwall, South West Water said it had restored supplies to more than half of those affected by severe disruption caused by the storm and power outages.
