After Arwen, a blast from Barra
Families warned of 70mph winds and snow… as revellers brave icy weather to get in party spirit
thousands still dealing with the fallout from storm arwen were yesterday warned there’s more chaos on the way.
a new named storm – Barra – is set to hit Britain tomorrow bringing up to 4in of snow, 70mph winds and driving rain.
around 3,100 homes, mainly in northeast England, yesterday remained without power nine days after arwen.
Barra – a deep area of low pressure moving in from the atlantic – is expected to have a ‘significant impact’. Rural areas on high ground are in line for the worst effects.
the Met office issued a warning covering the whole of England and Wales for tomorrow and into the night with gusts of up to 70mph expected in exposed coastal locations and around 50mph in many areas.
It warns that ‘short term loss of power’ is possible, which is grim news for families who have already endured days of power cuts in the wake of arwen. another weather warning for snow covers parts of scotland, northern England and the Peak district where up to 2in is expected. high ground in scotland could see up to 4in.
annie shuttleworth, a Met office meteorologist, said a ‘dusting of snow’ was likely on northern hills, such as the Peak and Lake district today, with showers and hail also giving a ‘fairly wintry feel’. ‘the snow is likely to cause significant disruption on higher routes,’ she added, with delays to rail, air and road travel on higher ground. ‘driving conditions will be very difficult,’ she said.
the worst hit northern areas could also see overnight temperatures plunge to minus 6C and it ‘may not get above freezing by day’ in these areas. northern Powergrid had 3,900 homes without power yesterday morning. the army continued to support residents without electricity over the weekend.
Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng told the BBC the number of homes still without power was ‘totally unacceptable’. he said: ‘It’s wrong and bad for people to be off power for such a long time. In this day and age, 4,000 people should not be without power for so long.’
Mr Kwarteng said a review would be carried out and if energy firms were found to have ‘failed to invest in infrastructure’ then ‘there could be enforcement action’.
he said: ‘In this particular instance there is a question about the infrastructure in this area being fit for purpose.’ he also said there had been a ‘huge communication issue’ with energy firms keeping residents updated.
By last night northern Powergrid had reduced the number of homes without power to 3,000. the nationwide total was at around 3,100.
Icy temperatures, wind and rain failed to deter revellers at the weekend. Many were spotted heading out to festive parties in short skirts and skimpy tops.
Elsewhere there were still signs of the damage caused by arwen – including a bent Christmas tree outside Manchester Cathedral.
Barra is a name selected as part of the named storms collaboration with Irish forecasters Met Éireann and dutch forecasters.