Storm Ciaran has caused chaos across large swaths of the country with pictures revealing the damage caused by high winds and heavy rain.
Residents reported hailstones "bigger than a golf ball" in Jersey where some people had to leave their homes and seek refuge in a hotel.
The AA said it had “rescued 84 customers stuck in flood so far today, with thousands more impacted by the weather” while by Thursday afternoon National Grid said 9,000 properties were without power in the South West.
Hundreds of schools were closed because of the risk to pupils in the south of England, but Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Local Resilience Forum (LRF) downgraded its major incident on Thursday afternoon as the area had not experienced the “full extent of the forecast weather”.
The Government of Jersey said schools will close for a second day on Friday as they aim to get pupils back in classrooms on Monday.
In Dorset, firefighters evacuated 70 people from 198 caravans at Freshwater Holiday Park in Burton Bradstock, near Bradport, with some being taken to dry land by boat.
Amid continued heavy rain on Thursday afternoon the Environment Agency said flooding was expected in 82 areas, most on the south coast.
A further 197 alerts were in place for possible flooding across England.
P&O Ferries said it had experienced very long delays in Dover on Thursday.
Southern Rail urged commuters to work from home if possible and avoid non-essential journeys due to a strong risk of falling trees and debris blowing on to the tracks.
The Cornwall councillor in charge of environment and public protection, Martyn Alvey, said the storm had led to a “significant event” in the region that had left highways teams dealing with about 180 reports of fallen trees, debris and blocked drains.
Roofs blowing off buildings, power lines and trees falling on to roads, and bridges and railway line closures are all possible due to the storm, the Met Office added.
It also said Jersey Airport had seen wind gusts of up to 93mph on Thursday morning, with Langdon Bay in Kent recording 71mph, and the village of Cardinham in Cornwall seeing 68mph.
A yellow warning for rain is also in place until 6am on Friday for north-east England and Scotland, stretching up to Inverness and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution urged people watching the conditions to stay away from the coast.
