Storm Boelo, the second named storm of the season, is set to bring strong winds with gusts potentially exceeding 80mph and "widespread travel disruption" to ferries and trains across the north of the UK, forecasters have said.
An amber weather warning is in place across Scotland, the north of England down to Carlisle and the north-east of Northern Ireland on Saturday. Conditions are expected to stay "very wet and windy" across the UK, but much of England and Wales can look forward to a brighter and sunnier picture on Sunday.
Storm Boelo follows Storm Austen
Storm Boelo follows Storm Austen, which hit the South West on Friday and saw thousands of homes affected by power cuts. The Met Office said these power cuts could "potentially" be replicated across the amber areas in the north this weekend.
Tom Morgan, a Met Office meteorologist, said: "Yesterday's Storm Austen affected the far south of the UK and northern France and the Channel Islands, whereas today's Storm Boelo will be affecting the north of the UK."
"We have an amber wind warning in place across Scotland later today and through tonight and into the end of Sunday. With the strong winds, potentially gusts exceeding 80 miles per hour locally, there will be some widespread travel disruption across Scotland, possibly northern parts of Northern Ireland and the far north of England as well through the next 24 to 36 hours."
He added: "I'm expecting delays to ferry services, if not cancellations, perhaps some quite widespread impacts to travel on the railways and on the roads as well."
Power restored to over 60,000 homes
The National Grid confirmed on Friday night that engineers had restored power to more than 60,000 homes since Storm Austen began. At one stage on Friday in the South West, 31,000 homes were without power, planes had been cancelled and part of the historic West Pier in Brighton collapsed into the sea.
Amy Webb, chief operating officer at National Grid Electricity Distribution, said: "We know how difficult it is to be without power, particularly during severe weather."
"Our engineers are out across the affected areas, working to repair the damage and get customers back on supply as quickly and safely as possible. We're grateful for their patience while that work continues. If you see a fallen power line, damaged pole or other damage to our equipment, please stay well clear and call 105 straight away."
Flooding risks and resilience concerns
Mr Morgan added that "we do need the rain desperately", particularly in the south of the UK which faced the brunt of the "severe drought" this summer. Human-driven climate change disrupts rainfall patterns and drives more extreme weather events, which the UK also experienced this summer through successive record heatwaves.
The Prime Minister warned on Friday that the UK could face "a winter of greater flooding" and said we are living in a world where "unexpected events" are "more and more common".
Andy Burnham denied the suggestion that the Government is playing catch-up with civil preparedness as he attended a summit organised to learn from the summer's record wildfires. He said: "We are having that conversation about resilience. That's why we're holding this summit today, it's why we're putting the guidance out to the public. We potentially are facing a winter of greater flooding, so it's about recognising all of those risks and taking action."
