Storm Antoni - live: Met Office upgrades ‘danger to life’ warnings as flooding sees evacuations
Weather warning in place from 11am to 7pm for south west England and Wales
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
The Met Office has upgraded weather warnings to amber as eight people have been evacuated from their flooded Dublin homes.
The first named storm of the year, Storm Antoni moved eastwards in Ireland as heavy rains poured down overnight into this morning.
In England and Wales, an amber warning for wind is in place from 11am to 7pm for Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Torbay, and Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Swansea.
The Met Office warned “flying debris is possible and could lead to injuries or danger to life”.
Two yellow warnings for wind and rain are also in place for large swathes of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Met Office chief meteorologist Steve Willington said: “Storm Antoni will bring some potentially disruptive weather on Saturday as it moves from west to east.
“Northern Ireland is likely to see some of the highest rainfall totals, with 40-60mm falling in some spots, but 20-30 more widely.”
Cool Sunday with mix of sunshine and showers as storm fades away
The Met Office has indicated of a pleasant Sunday for parts of the UK as Storm Antoni recedes.
“As #StormAntoni slowly clears away from East Anglia and southeast England it will be a cool start to Sunday with a mixture of sunshine and showers,” it said.
Predictions for Sunday across the country showed temperatures ranging from 10 to 18 degree celsius throughout the day.
While Lerwick and Aberdeen will see 10 degrees Celsius in the morning hours, temperatures will go as high as 17 and 18 degrees Celsius for London, South Hampton and Cardiff.
Scarborough, North Yorkshire suffer heavy rainfall prompting evacuations
Met Office meteorologist Simon Partridge said gusts of 78mph (125km/h) were measured in Berry Head, in Tor Bay, and 43mm of rain fell in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, or almost half of the average rainfall in August.
Flooding in North Yorkshire led to a number of people being evacuated from their homes in Loftus and Carlin How.
Eight people were also evacuated from their homes in Clontarf, Dublin, after spot flooding caused by heavy rainfall overnight on Friday, the Dublin Fire Brigade said in a statement.
Rail services were also disrupted, Mr Partrigde added, noting that Great Western Railway had warned passengers not to travel between Exeter and Penzance due to the number of trees which had fallen on the track.
A number of roads had also been blocked in Devon and Cornwall.
“The rain is still ongoing at the moment, there’s still a fair bit of thunder and rain, particularly across northern England and East Anglia,” he added.
Storm Antoni clears away after hitting UK with 78mph winds and heavy rain
The Met Office has said that Strom Antoni is now clearing away from the UK, displaying a map of the metereological events over the country.
Yesterday, strong winds lashed the UK as nearly half a month’s worth of rain fell in some places after the storm hit the country.
A danger to life alert was issued as the weather service advised safety precautions due to the possibility of falling trees, riptides, and inadequate building structures.
The Met Office issued an amber warning, with the potential for damaging gusts of wind, covering Wales and southwest England.
Storm Antoni will ‘pretty much all be gone by midnight’
Met Office meteorologist Simon Partridge has said the firt named storm of the year, Storm Antoni will “pretty much all be gone by midnight”.
Strong winds lashed the UK as heavy rainfall triggered evacuations in North Yorkshire and Dublin on Saturday, when Storm Antoni hit the country.
Sunday is forecast to be a drier, brighter day, Mr Partridge told the PA news agency.
Nurse criticises emergency response to Yorkshire floods as Storm Antoni hits UK
A nurse has criticised the emergency response to his town being hit by flooding following heavy rainfall as Storm Antoni swept across the UK.
Paul Jones-King, 47, who has lived in Loftus, North Yorkshire, for 18 years, said he is “angry” and “really frustrated” after his home was flooded on Saturday due to the town’s drainage system - which he said is “not able to cope” with heavy rainfall.
“I just want to cry to be honest with you,” Mr Jones-King told the PA news agency.
“I’m a nurse, I finished a night shift this morning, was sat having a cup of coffee before I was due to go to bed, and literally within 10 minutes your house is flooding.
He criticised both the Environment Agency and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council over the response to the flooding.
Mr Jones-King said: “It really is down to the Environment Agency to come up with a solution rather than just saying, ‘unfortunately you’re in a flooded area’.”
He added: “It’s a real poor response from Redcar and Cleveland Council. There’s no support, they’ve dumped some bags, and that’s it, they’ve gone.”
A spokesman for the Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council said: “The council responded immediately when called out to the need for help and a crew was deployed to the scene by early morning.
“Further crews were mobilised throughout the morning as the scale of the flooding became apparent.
“The crews were at the scene all day to work with the emergency services to keep people safe,” he added.
“The work to repair damage caused will continue in the coming days and we would like to thank all those who gave their time and expertise to ensure people were safe in the aftermath of the flooding.”
Met Office forecasts ‘sunny spells with scattered showers’ on Sunday
Here’s the weather forecast for Sunday:
When will the rainy weather come to an end?
Forecasts by the weather agency point to an easing of the downpours later in August but conditions are unlikely to reach anywhere near the sweltering temperatures of last year.
Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon told The Independent: “There are some early signs, there could be some potentially more settled or warm by the end of next week so there’s a lot of uncertainty around that because of the movement of the various low pressure systems across the Atlantic that would lead to that.”
Looking further ahead, the current forecasts suggest there will be warmer and drier conditions in the second half of August with some spells of rain.
In pictures: Storm Antoni hits UK as events are cancelled
Storm Antoni weather warnings remain in place this evening: Met Office
The Met Office has said weather warnings remain in force through Saturday evening, after Storm Antoni ushered in strong gusts of wind and heavy rainfall in some parts of the United Kingdom.
According to an earlier update from the weather forecaster, Sunday is expected to be sunnier than Saturday, with scattered showers in some places.
“Much lighter winds for all,” Sunday’s forecast reads.
Berry Head reports ‘record-breaking’ 125km/h gust speed
The Met Office has shared a list of the highest gust speeds seen today, as Storm Antoni was unleashed over the UK on Saturday.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies