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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Tammy Hughes and Sami Quadri

Storm Franklin: Met Office confirms new storm will hit the UK on Sunday

Another storm is set to hit the UK on Sunday, forecasters have warned.

The Met Office said Storm Franklin would bring strong winds and heavy rain across much of the country and winds of up to 80mph in Northern Ireland.

A Twitter post from the Met Office said: : “The storm is forecast to bring strong winds and heavy rain to the UK on Sunday and Monday.

“The strongest winds will be in Northern Ireland where an Amber weather warning has been issued. Stay #WeatherAware.”

The latest storm warning comes comes after homes, transport links and power lines were affected by Storm Eunice.

Some 83,000 people are believed to still be without power.

On Friday, the Met Office issued a rare red weather warning - meaning danger to life - for south-west and south-east England, including London.

The Energy Networks Association says the UK may have experienced a record outage over a 24-hour period on Friday, with 1.3 million homes affected.

Meteorologist Becky Mitchell said this is the first time the national forecaster has recorded three major storms in such quick succession since the naming system was introduced seven years ago.

She told the PA news agency: “This is the first time we have had three named storms within a week, and we started the storm naming system in 2015.

“At the moment we’ve got a really active jet stream, which is why we’re seeing so many storms track right towards the UK.

“We had Dudley on Wednesday, Eunice on Friday and Franklin today.”

Winds of 122mph were provisionally recorded at the Needles on the Isle of Weight, which, if verified, would be the highest ever recorded in England.

During the storm, the roof of the O2 Arena in London collapsed and the spire of St Thomas Church in Wells, Somerset, crashed to the ground.

Four people lost their lives on Friday, including a woman whose car was hit by a tree in Muswell Hill and Jack Bristow, 23, who died when a tree his his truck in Hampshire.

Forecasters have warned that some parts of England could experience strong gusts of up to 70mph on Sunday.

Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst urged Britons to brace for more windy weather.

Speaking on Saturday, he added: “We will see a slight easing in the wind over the evening time tonight, but it’s not long before they pick up again tomorrow to lead to another windy day across the UK.

“This will have an impact on the clearing up process over the course of the day.”

The Association of British Insurers indicated that the clean-up could cost more than £300 million.

A spokesman said: “It is too early to estimate the likely insured cost of Storm Eunice, when insurers will be focusing on assessing damage and helping their customers recover.

“No two storms are the same. The last significant storms to hit the UK – Ciara and Dennis – led to insurers paying out over £360 million.”

National Rail has warned there is still “major disruption” to train services “across most of Great Britain”.

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