Storm Debi hits the UK with 70mph winds
Widespread disruption to travel and localised floods are expected as the UK deals with stronger storms and more extreme weather.
Credit: MetOffice
Yellow and amber weather warning have been issued across the UK by the Met Office as storm Debbie hits the country. Winds of 60-70 mph and heavy rainfall are expected to cause disruption in north-west England as Northern Ireland recovers from damage already caused overnight and early this morning.
In Ireland, Police have urged people to stay at home and avoid making unnecessary journeys as 100,000 homes have been left without power in the Republic. A red warning that was in place over the Republic lifted at 09:00 this morning causing disruption to schools and delaying their opening till 10:00.
Jason Kelly, Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office said: “Storm Debi will develop quickly and bring potentially very strong and damaging winds”.
Charlotte Williams, a third year student at the Metropolitan University of Manchester said: “the rain was really heavy when I walked to lectures this morning, I had to stop and take shelter a few times.”
Adding: “The trains and buses were all running late because of the wind.”
Debi is the fourth storm to fall on the UK in the last few recently, with storm Ciarán earlier this month hitting southern England which caused power outages and school closures.
Storm Babet, in October had devastating effects in Scotland leading to the death of three people and causing widespread damage.
In Limerick, Republic of Ireland Caroline Fox, a care assistant said the storm had caused minor flooding on her road and outside her work adding: “We haven’t been affected to badly because we are in land, but places like Cork seem to be getting it worse. They need to invest to protect people against storms. You can’t keep putting money into your business or house if it is going to continually get damages.”
A study from the University of Bristol estimated that in the UK costs from flood damage are as high as £740 million each year. The report also found annual damage could increase by as much as 20% if net zero targets set out at COP26 were not met.
The National Audit office (NAO) is expected to release a report later this week examining the UK’s current flood readiness strategies. The report will examine how the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is managing flood resilience including how it measures progress and manages its funding.
Current NAO data shows that over 5 million properties in England are at risk from flooding. Also sighting that climate change will increase the risk of flooding and make maintaining resilience to flooding more difficult.
This year’s Climate conference, COP28 will be held in the United Arab Emirates and is set to be a landmark conference as it will take stock of global progress on Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement set out at COP21 in 2015 was a legally binding treaty signed by 194 states to keep global warming bellow 1.5℃. Warming beyond this level would lead to more extreme weather globally and effect the scale of the storms we see in the UK.