Large parts of the UK were braced for another day of travel chaos and power cuts on Monday as Storm Franklin brought hurricane-force winds and flooding in the wake of the deadly Storm Eunice.
Hundreds of families in south Manchester were urged to evacuate their homes on Sunday night, while thousands of households remained without power following the worst UK storm in decades.
The Met Office said Franklin would bring gusts of up to 80mph in Northern Ireland and that England and Wales would have another day of strong winds and heavy rain.
Two severe weather warnings were in place in south Manchester, meaning there is a risk to life, along with more than 300 flood warnings and alerts across England, Scotland and Wales.
Evacuation centres were set up at a mosque in the Manchester suburb of Didsbury, and at a leisure centre in nearby Fallowfield, after the Environment Agency said 460 properties were at risk of flooding from the river Mersey.
Police warned people in Doncaster to stay away from dangerous “fast-flowing” water in Sprotbrough after the River Don burst its banks amid stormy weather on Sunday night. South Yorkshire police said in a tweet: “We ask people to remain away from the area of Sprotbrough Falls and Sprotbrough Lock in Doncaster, after the River Don burst its banks in this location earlier this evening.
“Many of the footpaths in this area are presently underwater. The water is fast-flowing and poses a risk to people attempting to wade through it. Members of the public are being asked to remain away from the area at this time for their own safety.”
Train operators warned customers to “avoid travel if possible” on Monday as services are expected to be paralysed by gale-force winds and lashing rain.
National Rail said anyone making essential journeys once services resume to expect “major disruption” to routes “across most of Great Britain” – including cancellations, delays and slower speeds onboard.
A Met Office spokesman said an amber weather warning for strong winds was in place for Northern Ireland between midnight and 7am on Monday, likely to bring power cuts, damage to buildings, flying debris and danger to life.
He added that gusts would widely reach 60-70 mph in Northern Ireland and up to 80mph on the northern coast.
Storm Eunice caused what providers believe was a record national power outage over a 24-hour period on Friday, with about 1.4m homes affected. Four fatalities have been confirmed, with many more injured by flying debris or falling trees.
The continuing strong winds meant that tens of thousands of people would spend a fourth day without power as engineers were on Sunday only able to reconnect a fraction of the 83,000 customers without any supply.
The Energy Networks Association said approximately 28,000 customers in south-west England remained without power on Sunday evening, as well as 20,000 in the south-east and a further 19,000 in the wider south of England. About 3,000 households remain without power in south Wales.
On Sunday evening, the business and energy secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, tweeted that 1.35 million customers had been reconnected to power supplies since Friday. “55,800 customers are without power – down from 190,000 yesterday. In total, 1.35 million customers have been reconnected,” he said.
“UK Power Networks (SE + E England) is receiving mutual aid from other network operators across the UK to bolster their restoration efforts.”
Environment agencies have also issued hundreds of alerts for flooding across the UK. The worst of the flooding is expected in the north and west of England, large stretches of central Scotland, the Western Isles and Orkney, and along the River Severn in Wales.
A Met Office spokesman said strong winds and heavy rain would probably mean disruption to the start of the working week, particularly in Northern Ireland, which looks like it will experience the worst of Franklin.
He said: “It will be a fairly blustery week, but a bit more typical of what we usually see at this time of year. It will for some not be welcome, but the winds will be down a notch from what we saw last week.”
The Met Office’s chief meteorologist, Andy Page, said: “Following the significant impacts of Storm Eunice on Friday, Storm Franklin will bring further high winds for many late on Sunday and into Monday, although not on the same scale as Eunice.”
The SC2 waterpark in Rhyl, north Wales, has closed for repairs after high winds damaged its roof. Operator Denbighshire Leisure said: “We have no option but to close the waterpark until repairs have been undertaken.”
London’s O2 arena will be closed until Friday after part of its roof was destroyed by Storm Eunice, prompting the evacuation of about 1,000 people. The 22,000-seater venue said it expected a scheduled UB40 concert to go ahead as planned on Friday.
