The storm called “Arwen” reached almost 160 kilometers per hour. Power outages and traffic chaos were the result. There are also fatalities.
Manchester – Storm and snowfall led to traffic chaos and power outages in thousands of households in the UK on Saturday night.
On a motorway in the north-west of England, around 120 trucks were stuck in the snow for several hours, as the North West Motorway Police announced on Twitter.
Tens of thousands of households in the north of England had power cuts. The utility Northern Powergrid said 55,000 affected customers, mostly in the northern regions of Northumberland and County Durham. Several train connections were interrupted in Scotland. ScotRail encouraged its customers to avoid travel whenever possible.
Emergency services reported a large number of operations, for example because of fallen trees or damaged roofs. At least two people were killed in fallen trees.
According to the Met Office, the storm called “Arwen” at times reached nearly 100 miles per hour (almost 160 kilometers per hour). The highest warning level has now been lifted, but weather warnings continued to exist on Saturday. dpa
