Thousands of homes have lost power in the north of England after Storm Dudley battered the region with 80mph winds.
Nearly 1,700 households in Wigan, Greater Manchester, are without electricity after strong winds caused an outage.
Electricity North West previously warned the weather may damage overhead lines and the network operator has now dispatched engineers to fix the issue.
The firm said power cuts have also taken place in towns and villages throughout Lancashire and Cumbria.
It comes as a Met Office amber wind warning remains in force across the north of England, southern Scotland and the tip of Northern Ireland this evening.
Yellow wind warnings are also in place as far south as Birmingham.
Have you been affected by the storm? Email webnews@mirror.co.uk
As of 5pm, Capel Curig in Wales had experienced gusts of up to 81mph, with Emley Moore in Yorkshire seeing 74mph winds, while Drumalbin in Scotland was hit by 71mph gales.
Social media users shared images and videos of fallen trees, large waves smashing coastal areas, howling winds and rain sweeping through quiet roads and dark and gloomy skies, with some facing delays on public transport.
Met Office forecaster Greg Dewhurst told the PA news agency: "We've seen Storm Dudley move in over the course of today with strong winds and heavy rain across northern parts of the country.
"This is a complete contrast to areas in the south which have been rather mild and calm for the most part, the temperature even reaching 17C in some areas.
"Exposed areas in Scotland, Northern Ireland, parts of Wales and northern England have seen wind speeds largely between 60 and 70mph but the worst affected areas have reached and even surpassed 80mph this afternoon.
"In terms of rainfall the highest we've seen in the past 24 hours is 36.8mm in Low Laithes in west Yorkshire, which is a good amount for the time period.
"These conditions are likely to continue into the evening before mellowing out in the early hours of Thursday."
The Environment Agency has one flood warning in place as of Wednesday afternoon near the Lake District.
East Midlands Railway (EMR) and London North Eastern Railway (LNER) have warned customers to expect disruption to services in the coming days.
Avanti West Coast said due to damage to the overhead electric wires at Carlisle all lines towards Glasgow and Edinburgh are blocked.
ScotRail wound down almost all services from 4pm amid fears of falling trees and blowing debris as wind speeds are expected to reach more than 80mph.
Get all the latest news sent to your inbox. Sign up for the free Mirror newsletter
Ferries in Scotland have also been severely disrupted, with 20 of the 29 routes experiencing cancellations.
Historic Scotland announced the early closure of eight of its sites on Wednesday afternoon, including Edinburgh, Stirling and Blackness castles, Glasgow Cathedral, and Melrose Abbey.
These conditions will be followed on Friday by Storm Eunice which could be even more damaging, with stronger winds than Dudley, heavy snow and possible blizzard conditions.
Another amber warning has been issued, with the potential for stronger winds, and predictions that gusts could top 90mph in the South West and South Wales.
There are fears the weather could become so severe that an extremely rare red warning is issued by the Met Office.
Eunice could become one of the worst storms in 30 years, since the Burns Day Storm in 1990, which killed 47 people.
