(Picture: Peter Jolly/Northpix)
Huge swathes of the UK remain under weather alerts after Storm Amy barrelled in with winds nearing 100mph last night.
Major parks have been closed, railways have been disrupted and ‘risk to life’ warnings have been issued over strong winds in some areas.
The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for wind covering the whole of the UK, while the north of Scotland also faces a new amber warning for ‘damaging’ winds with gusts of more than 90mph in some areas.
Meanwhile, Royal Parks confirmed closure of all of its national parks in London due to ‘severe wind gusts’, including Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens and St James Park.
Scotland is facing continued power outages, mainly in the Highlands which have been worst affected by weather.
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Fraser Wilson, of the Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme the network was working to restore power on Saturday morning.
He said 100mph winds had affected power across Scotland and while some people had their power restored, there were still thousands without it.
He said: ‘Work will continue this morning to get 62,000 people reconnected. We expect because of the extent of damage to the network and conditions we are still going to be facing today that this will take some time, this storm is not over by any means.’
The National Grid said: ‘Engineers will be working around the clock to restore supplies quickly if severe weather causes disruptions.’
Further travel disruption is likely to follow after several flights, rail and ferry services were cancelled.
In a statement on its website, the Royal Parks said: ‘Due to severe wind gusts caused by Storm Amy, all of the royal parks, plus Brompton Cemetery and Victoria Tower Gardens will be closed on Saturday October 4.
‘This closure includes all park roads and cycleways, cafes and kiosks, parks sports venues, the Serpentine lido and boating lake, and the royal parks shop.’
A new record for the deepest area of low pressure in the UK for October has also been set.
Storm Amy showed central pressure of 947.9 hectopascal (hPa) at Baltasound, Shetland. The previous record was 950.9hPa in 1988.
On Saturday morning, ScotRail said around 80 trees had been brought down on lines and engineers were checking routes before resuming services.
All services out of Glasgow Central have been suspended until at least 2pm on Saturday.
Mark Ilderton, ScotRail service delivery director, said there will be ‘considerable disruption’ to train services on Saturday.
He said: ‘We’re sorry to customers who have been impacted by the disruption caused by Storm Amy.
‘Network Rail and ScotRail teams will work flat out to recover services as quickly as possible, but considerable disruption will continue through Saturday morning.
‘We’re advising customers to check their journey before they travel via the ScotRail website, mobile app or social media feeds.’
Network Rail said the storm had a greater impact than predicted.
The transport organisation said: ‘Storm Amy has hit parts of the country much harder and more quickly than expected.
‘We have experienced over 60 incidents on the network during the first two hours of the storm, with flooding, trees falling on to the overhead lines and debris on the tracks.
‘The safety of passengers and colleagues is priority, which is why all services to and from Glasgow Central have been suspended at this time.’
Met Office chief forecaster Neil Armstrong said: ‘Storm Amy will be an impactful autumn storm for many in Scotland and Northern Ireland, though impacts will also spread to north-west England and Wales, as well as a more widespread windy period for the rest of the UK.
‘Within the amber warning areas, damaging gusts of around 100mph are possible for a time on Friday evening for parts of western Scotland, especially Skye, Tiree, Barra and western Lochaber.
‘This could lead to significant disruption and brings the risk of power cuts and damage to buildings and trees.
‘Elsewhere, gusts of 60-80 mph are expected more widely in the amber warning areas, and slightly lower figures for those covered by yellow warnings.
‘Rainfall is an additional hazard, in particular over western Scotland, where totals could exceed 30-50mm in six to nine hours, increasing the risk of flooding for some.
‘A number of warnings have been issued covering the rainfall risk for the coming days.’
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