Flood alerts and travel chaos warnings as Storm Ashley to batter Britain

Gusts of up to 80mph forecast as flood warning issued for parts of the UK

Storm Ashley is set to blast its way across Britain on Sunday, amid warnings of power cuts, travel disruption and dangerous conditions. Winds of up to 80mph and torrential rain will batter parts of the country, with hundreds of flood warnings issued.

An amber weather warning has been issued for the west coast of Scotland and the Met Office says there is “good chance” of power cuts as the storm arrives from the early hours of Sunday. Alerts are also in place across parts of England.

People have been warned to expect travel disruption on rail and roads, reports the Mirror. “Injuries and danger to life is likely from large waves and beach material being thrown onto coastal roads, sea fronts and properties,” the Met Office warned. The amber warning is in place until midnight on Sunday.

READ MORE: Drivers warned major change will cost them £50 from November

Meanwhile a yellow weather warning is in place for a much larger part of the UK from 3am on Sunday morning amid warnings of damage to buildings, power cuts and injuries and danger to life. “Initially a period of strong south to southeasterly winds will likely develop through Sunday morning, with gusts of 50-60 mph possible in some inland areas, especially Northern Ireland and western Scotland, and perhaps up to 60-70 mph along exposed coasts and hills,” the Met Office said.

“Winds will then turn southwesterly, with a period of especially strong winds possible during Sunday afternoon and evening across western Scotland where gusts could potentially reach 70-80 mph in exposed areas, and more generally 55-65 mph in other parts of the warning area.”

The yellow weather warning covers Scotland, north western England, Northern Ireland and parts of west Wales, it lasts until midnight on Sunday. A smaller area of northern Scotland remains covered by a yellow warning for wind until 9am on monday.

The Environment Agency currently has 52 flood warnings in place, meaning “flooding is expected” as well as a further 145 flood alerts meaning “flooding is possible”. The majority of the warnings and alerts are for the western half of the UK with the bulk of the warnings between Birmingham and Bristol.