‘Stay at home’ warning and 1,000 flights axed as 100mph winds hit UK

More than 280,000 homes and businesses are without power in Northern Ireland after Storm Eowyn battered the region.

Northern Ireland is believed to have been buffeted by the strongest winds seen in the region since the Boxing Day storm in 1998. (AP)

Hundreds of trees came down during the storm, damaging properties and blocking roads.

The strongest gust of wind recorded on Friday was 92.2mph at Killowen in Co Down.

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Families across the UK are likely to be submitting insurance claims for storm damage in the coming weeks.(AP)

Storm Éowyn is battering Britain with 100mph winds and a risk to life and property is real.

The costs of strong winds and lashing rain can be steep. The average claim for storm damage is £3,334 for contents insurance and £3,108 for buildings insurance, according to Confused.com data.

Buildings and contents insurance policies usually cover against storm damage. And if your home is left uninhabitable, your insurer should pay for alternative accommodation until repairs have been made.

However, your insurer might dispute whether a weather event counts as a storm.

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The detail around customer rights in this area is sometimes complicated, but the main principles are straightforward.

Airports in the UK and Ireland have seen widespread disruption and delays caused by Storm Eowyn. (Getty)

If your flight to or from the UK or the EU is delayed or cancelled at the last minute you are not only legally entitled to be looked after by your airline, you may be due cash compensation too.

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An unusually strong jet stream over the Atlantic bringing Storm Eowyn to the UK and Ireland is so powerful it pushed a flight travelling to London to near record speeds, data suggests.

Storm Eowyn hasn’t only caused delays to air travel – some passengers actually reached their destination faster thanks to the high winds. (Alamy)

According to Flight Radar, the British Airways flight BA274 from Las Vegas to Heathrow reached a ground speed of 814mph. This put it at just 21mph slower than the subsonic speed record of 835mph.

The Airbus A350 capitalised on the tailwind, which reduced the flight time by approximately an hour.

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Video footage from Northern Ireland has shown the moment Storm Eowyn blew a trampoline out of the garden of a Belfast family home.

Earlier, Network Rail urged people to ensure their trampolines were properly secured to prevent them from disrupting rail services.

Hurricane force winds posing danger to life have hit the UK, as millions of people have been urged to stay at home during Storm Eowyn.

Strom Eowyn has caused disruption across the UK. (PA)

Rail services, flights and ferries have been axed, and rare red weather warnings are in place on Friday in Scotland and Northern Ireland, as winds of up to 100mph have swept the country.

The storm is likely to rip the roofs from buildings, uproot trees and cause power cuts, according to the Met Office alerts.

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A red weather warning for wind has ended in Northern Ireland but will remain in place in Scotland.

The one in Scotland has already been widened today to take in the southwest as well as the central belt covering Glasgow and Edinburgh – until at least 5pm.

An Amber warning for wind covering most of Scotland, Northern Ireland, northern England and parts of Wales will remain in place until at least 9pm.

Storm Eowyn has broken a record in Ireland for the fastest wind speed since records began. Gusts of 114mph were recorded as the storm battered the country.

Network Rail has urged people to secure their trampolines.

A fallen tree on Tullydraw Road near Dungannon, Northern Ireland, as Storm Eowyn hits the country. (AP)

Almost one million homes, farms and businesses in the Republic and Northern Ireland are without power as record-breaking wind speeds swept across the island.

ESB Networks in Ireland and NIE Networks say they expect significant further outages as Storm Eowyn continues to batter parts of the island, with 725,000 customers affected in the Republic and 240,000 in Northern Ireland.

Some homes and businesses are expected to be without power for a week as an unprecedented number of power cuts are experienced.

While the red warnings have been downgraded in some 25 counties, many homes and business have been badly damaged by fallen trees and electrical lines.

Read the full story from PA.

There will be no trains in Scotland until at least midday on Saturday, ScotRail has said.

With the impact of Storm Eowyn causing major transport disruptions across the UK, the railway operator said it will not know the full extent of the damage to its tracks and overhead lines until Network Rail carries out a full assessment.

Workers are expected to start clearing fallen trees and other debris that has landed on the tracks, but until this can be adequately completed, all ScotRail services will be suspended until at least 12pm on Saturday.

Gusts measuring 100mph have been measured on the British mainland as Storm Eowyn continues to batter the UK and Ireland.

The three-digit wind strength was recorded in Drumalbin, in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, earlier today, according to the Met Office.

Before this, the most powerful wind confirmed by the official forecaster was about 70 miles south, at Brizlee Wood, in Northumberland.

Air passengers face the prospect of significant disruption this weekend. (Getty)

The UK Civil Aviation Authority has urged passengers to make sure they know their rights while travelling by plane this weekend.

Roughly a fifth of all flights to and from airports in the UK and Ireland have been cancelled today as Storm Eowyn causes chaos across the British Isles.

Anyone facing significant delay or cancellation of their journey is entitled to a refund or alternative travel arrangements and even meals and accommodation if necessary.

Visit the CAA website to find out more.

While about a fifth of flights to and from the UK have been cancelled so far, some passengers have been dealing with different type of disruption.

One Ryanair flight from London Stanstead to Edinburgh appears to have been forced to take a bit of a diversion, circling the Scottish capital before turning around and heading to Cologne – more than 530 miles in the wrong direction.

A plane lands in gusty conditions at Heathrow Airport on Friday. (AP)

One in five flights from airports in the UK and Ireland have been cancelled due to disruption caused by Storm Eowyn.

Aviation analytics company Cirium said by 1pm 1,124 flights scheduled to operate to, from or between airports in the UK and the Republic of Ireland had been axed.

That is equivalent to 20% of all flights, affecting about 150,000 passengers.

The worst affected airports in terms of the number of cancellations are:

Dublin (120 departures, 110 arrivals)

Edinburgh (85 departures, 80 arrivals)

Heathrow (51 departures, 62 arrivals)

Glasgow (44 departures, 43 arrivals)

Satellite imagery suggests a dangerous weather phenomenon known as a sting jet developed over Ireland on Friday morning, according to the Met Office.

A sting jet is a small area of very intense winds which can be as strong as 100mph or more, the strongest winds usually last between three to four hours across an area as small as 30 miles.

A fallen tree in east Belfast, where families have been told to stay at home as the island is battered by Storm Eowyn. (PA)

Millions of people have been urged to stay at home as Storm Eowyn brought winds up to 100mph, causing damage and disruption across the UK and Ireland.

Motorists were warned against making unnecessary journeys – and many rail services, flights and ferry services have been cancelled.

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A top speed of 96mph has been recorded on Friday at Brizlee Wood, near Alnwick, in Northumberland, the Met Office has said.

This is slightly higher than the day’s previous top speed of 93mph measured at Aberdaron, in Gwynedd, north Wales, earlier this morning.