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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Ted Hennessey

Further strong winds to batter UK after Storm Darragh sweeps in

Waves crash over the seafront in Porthcawl in Wales as Storm Darragh hits (Ben Birchall/PA) - (PA Wire)

More strong winds are set to batter much of the UK after Storm Darragh swept through the country.

Gusts of up to 80mph could hit Northern Ireland until 6am on Sunday, before a fresh yellow Met Office wind warning comes into force across much of England and Wales.

More widely there are likely to be gusts of 35-45mph inland, even reaching 70mph around coasts during the morning.

It means that further travel disruption and power cuts are likely until 6pm, the Met Office said.

The wreckage of an airport bus which crashed on the way to Belfast International Airport during Storm Darragh (Rebecca Black/PA) (PA Wire)

Storm Darragh brought gusts of 93mph to some parts of the country on Saturday, with millions warned to stay indoors, tens of thousands left without power and trains cancelled.

Two men were killed by falling trees hitting their vehicles.

West Midlands Police said the latest victim was killed when a tree fell and hit his car on Silver Birch Road, Erdington, on Saturday afternoon.

Sergeant Benjamin Parsons, of the roads policing unit, said: “Our thoughts are with the man’s family at this time, and his next of kin have been informed.”

The road was closed with drivers urged to avoid the area.

Earlier in the day, a man died after a tree fell onto his van in Lancashire.

The man, in his 40s, was driving his Citroen vehicle on the A59 at Longton, near Preston, at about 9am on Saturday.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Detective Sergeant Matt Davidson, from Lancashire Police’s serious collision investigation unit, said: “Very sadly, this incident has resulted in the death of a man and our thoughts are with his loved ones at this time.

“An investigation is ongoing, and I would appeal to anyone who saw what happened or has any dashcam or mobile phone footage to please get in touch.”

The Government’s “risk to life” alert came into effect at 1am on Saturday and was sent to people within the area covered by the Met Office’s rare red warning for wind in parts of Wales and south-west England.

Energy Networks Association said 259,000 customers across England, Scotland and Wales were without power as of Saturday evening.

It said that 80% of homes affected by the storm have been reconnected.

The Environment Agency had 56 flood warnings in place in England on Saturday evening, meaning flooding is expected.

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