Storm Agnes: high winds and rainy conditions cause floods and power outages as storm hits UK

Areas of the UK have been flooded and experience power outages after Storm Agnes made landfall.

The first named storm of the season arrived in the UK on Wednesday 27 September, with the western coast taking the brunt of the bad weather. The wind reached a top speed of 79mph in Capel Curig, a village in North Wales.

Elsewhere in the country, winds of 68mph were recorded in Aberdaron, Wales, 58mph in Glenanne, Northern Ireland and 54mph in Camborne, Cornwall.

Storm Agnes also triggered dangerous conditions for commuters. A woman in Co Londonderry in Northern Ireland had to be rescued from her car by emergency services after she was trapped by floodwater.

An easyJet plane was forced to abandon a landing at Belfast City Airport on Wednesday afternoon due to “winds gusting outside the limits of the aircraft”. Instead the plane was diverted back to Glasgow.

Ferries and flights into Ireland, where the storm first made landfall, were affected by the weather. The country also saw roads blocked by trees, and a roof was blown off a property in Co Cork.

Around 135 properties on the Isle of Scilly in south-west England were also left without power for just under four hours, according to the National Grid.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)  said that members in Clifden and Achill Island RNLI rescued a lone sailor who was located 10 miles west of Clare Island. The rescue organisation said: “Sea conditions at the time were very difficult and the lifeboat crews faced four meter swells, driving rain and Force Eight winds out at sea.”

It is hoped that the worst of the storm is now over, with the Met Office cancelling the yellow wind warning in the early hours of Thursday morning (28 September). The yellow rain warning for most of Scotland expired at 3am on Thursday.

Meteorologist Dan Stroud: “It’s an improving picture across England and Wales but there’s still some very strong gusts actually further north across Northern Ireland and Scotland.

“But we’re expecting the peak of the wind gusts in Storm Agnes to gradually ease during the overnight period.”