Tens of thousands of homes are facing a third night without power and train lines have been disrupted after Storm Darragh caused widespread damage across the UK.
Two men died at the weekend when trees fell on their vehicles in separate incidents during the fourth named storm of the season. Hundreds of flood alerts were in place across England, Wales and Northern Ireland on Monday, forcing the cancellation of dozens of train services.
As many as 66,000 people were still without power on Monday, more than 24 hours after gusts of up to 90mph brought down electricity lines across parts of the UK.
The Energy Networks Association (ENA) said it had been too dangerous for its more than 1,500 engineers and field staff to reach some communities, leaving them in the dark for approaching 48 hours.
More than 259,000 homes were without power at the peak of Storm Darragh on Saturday night, according to the ENA. John Butler, 77, lost electricity to his home in Gwynedd, north Wales, on Friday morning and was not expecting to have power again until Tuesday.
Living with just his dog Cadi, both of them spent two nights with no wifi or phone signal with only a gas stove and wood burner to keep warm. “I’ve never seen winds like this. We’ve had heavy rain in the past but the winds were nearly 100mph over the peninsula,” he said. “You can see wires dangling from the telegraph poles.”
Butler stayed in a hotel on Sunday after Scottish Power offered to put him up while work to restore power continued. He praised the energy company for its efforts but said he had decided to return to his power-cut home because “one night in a hotel was enough”.
He added: “The latest update is that we’ll have power by 9.30pm tonight but it keeps changing. It’s probably more likely to be tomorrow morning. Climate change means we should expect more extreme weather like this but the country is not prepared.”
The widespread disruption came as tributes were paid to two men who were killed when trees fell on their vehicles in separate incidents on Saturday. Paul Fiddler, a football coach at Lytham Town FC, died when strong winds brought down a tree on his Citroën van in the Lancashire village of Longton.
On its Facebook page, the club described him as a “legend” and added he was “well-loved” and a “true friend”.
Another man, Kher Hussain Shahin, died in the Erdington area of Birmingham after a tree fell and hit his car just after 3pm on Saturday.
As of 4pm on Monday, 37 flood warnings were in place across England and Wales. The Welsh border was the worst affected region after the River Severn, Britain’s longest river, overflowed its banks at the weekend.
As many as 117 of the less severe flood alerts – meaning there is a risk of flooding – remain in force across large swaths of England and Wales.
Chris Baughan, Network Rail’s west coast south route operations manager, said Storm Darragh had “wreaked havoc on the railway this weekend” and added: “We are very sorry to passengers for the disruption to train services this morning on the west coast main line as frontline teams continue with emergency repairs and the clean-up.”
Passengers were told to expect cancellations and delays to train services on the west coast main line, between London Euston and Scotland, while Great Western Railway told people not to try to travel in parts of Wales and in parts of Cornwall until at least noon on Monday. Transport for Wales said railway lines were blocked on 11 routes.
The Met Office said the weather was expected to settle down over the next few days, although there could be blustery showers on Tuesday in parts of the south-east of England.
