UK braced for more wild weather

Britain braced for wild weather

A car ploughs through a flooded road near Denny in Falkirk after heavy rain hit the region

Britain is braced for a wet and windy day as the weather continues to wreak havoc.

Gales have battered parts of the country in recent days, with winds of more than 100mph recorded.

One man has died and the high winds have also caused damage and disruption to roads and buildings.

Forecasters said a band of rain – including some heavy downpours – will hit northern parts of the UK, gradually moving southwards to the Midlands by this evening. There is a risk of drizzle in the southern half of England, while the wind will also continue to be a feature of the weather although it is not likely to be as strong as Friday.

A 51-year-old motorist was killed on a rural road when his car was struck by a tree uprooted by high winds in Staffordshire.

The man, who has not yet been named, was driving a Mercedes Vaneo on the A458 Bridgnorth Road near Stourton at about 11.30pm on Thursday.

In Scotland, the wind blew down trees and tore roofs from buildings, while oil workers were airlifted from a North Sea installation after several anchor chains failed in severe weather on Friday.

In exposed mountain areas, wind speeds broke 115mph. The Met Office said its calculator at the top of the Cairngorms, which shuts down at this speed, went out of action for four hours on Friday night.

Clare Allen, a forecaster with Meteogroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said the wind reached speeds yesterday of 114mph in the Cairngorms, 90mph at Lake Vyrnwy in Wales, 84mph in Great Dun Fell in Cumbria, 83mph in Orlock Head in Northern Ireland and 80mph on the Yorkshire coast.

She said the windy conditions were caused because the British Isles were sandwiched between a high-pressure system over western parts of mainland Europe and an area of low pressure near Iceland.