Met Office Warns Storm Franklin Will Hit UK Days After Eunice
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The UK is barely on the other side of Storm Eunice, but brace yourselves: Storm Franklin is coming.
Approximately 83,000 households in England and Wales are still without power after winds of up to 122mph caused havoc across the country, with the Met Office even forced to issue a 'danger to life' warning amid church spires toppling, stadiums being ripped to shreds and flying, dangerous debris.
The current death toll from the storm in the UK and Ireland stands at four; the most recent victim was a woman in North London who died after a tree fell on her car, coming after others died from falling debris or tree collisions.
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An amber weather warning has been issued for Northern Ireland ahead of Storm Franklin's arrival, set to run from midnight until 7am tomorrow, February 21. As well as heavy rain and further flying debris, people can expect 'gale force westerly winds with severe and damaging gusts... combined with very high seas', Met Eireann said.
Coming after Dudley and Eunice, Franklin marks the first time the Met Office has named three storms within the space of one week. 'We've got a really active jet stream, which is why we're seeing so many storms track right towards the UK,' meteorologist Becky Mitchell told Sky News.
Met Office forecaster Simon Partridge also told The Guardian, 'Eunice is gone, but unfortunately things are not settling down. There is another area of low pressure up near Iceland, and that will bring very strong winds again through Sunday. As well as that we’ve got reasonably heavy rain as well.
'There’s also a fair bit of snow, and the rain is going to melt it. There could be some issues with surface water and flooding in certain areas. There is not a great deal of respite in terms of lighter winds at all this week, which will really set back clear-up operations.'
While the winds aren't expected to be quite as strong as Eunice, gusts of up to 80mph have been forecast for vast areas of England and Wales.
'Coastal areas of Northern Ireland, especially on that north coast, will get the strongest wind gusts, which could be around 80mph in a few places. Amber and yellow wind warnings have been issued, and people should remain cautious ahead of the system that will bring 50-60mph wind gusts for much of the UK from late on Sunday and through Monday,' chief meteorologist Andy Page said.
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