Storm ‘Isha’, which has kept areas across the United Kingdom on alert since Sunday with winds of up to 145 kilometers per hour, has left thousands of citizens without electricity and has disrupted the transport network throughout the country.
Maintaining electricity network in Ireland ESB Networks recorded more than 170,000 properties without power today, while operator Electricity North West said almost 8,000 homes had been left without power. The country’s Meteorological Office (Met Office) has today issued a yellow warning for risk of disruption to transport across the UK.
‘Isha’ has caused the closure of numerous roads in the country. In turn, the Network Rail railway network has applied certain speed restrictions on most of its routes for safety reasons due to the risk that the storm would cause trees to fall on the tracks or that the wind would carry debris.
“Travel disruptions are likely to continue this Monday as crews complete track clearing and operate ‘ghost trains’ to ensure lines are clear before resuming passenger trains,” the company said.
Scottish Railways said no trains would be running until all routes were inspected and damage to the cable network in at least 20 locations was repaired.
Among other incidents, the remains of a garden shed were washed onto the tracks of a Glasgow station and a small fire broke out in the town of Gartcosh when a tree fell on the wiring.
In England, the East Midlands Railway company anticipated “delays and disruptions” for today, while in the aviation industry air traffic control restrictions were enabled for this Monday, which has so far led to flight cancellations and diversions.
“Due to adverse conditions throughout the United Kingdom, temporary restrictions on air traffic have been put in place. These are only applied to maintain safety,” a spokesperson for the National Air Traffic Services told local media today.
In the northeast of Scotland, a ‘red’ warning – which warns of danger to life – and other ‘amber’ warnings – which refer to very dangerous weather situations – remained in force today until 5:00 GMT until 6:00 GMT in much of the country. .
The Met said “everyone” in the UK has been affected by this storm, with 28 flood warnings in England and 50 in Scotland. It is expected to ease throughout the day, although the wind, along with sunny intervals and showers, will continue to blow throughout the day.
