Storm Barra blows in with up to 8in of snow

WINTer will bite again today as Storm Barra blasts in from the Atlantic with 80mph gales and up to eight inches of snow.

As more than 1,000 homes in the North east faced an eleventh night without power last night following Storm Arwen, it was the turn of the rest of the country to bear the brunt.

Snow brought travel chaos to high ground in the Peak District yesterday, and there were fears of widespread disruption today with a Met Office weather warning for heavy snow covering much of northern england.

Winds could hit 80mph on exposed western coasts, with a band of snow on the storm’s leadrestored ing edge expected to bring blizzards in the far north.

All of england, Wales and Northern Ireland are covered by yellow weather warnings for wind, warning of travel disruption.

rural communities could be cut off, according to a separate yellow warning for heavy snow this afternoon stretching northwards from Staffordshire into Scotland.

Met Office forecaster Simon Partridge warned the impact on power grid engineers was ‘not going to make working conditions any easier’.

engineers have been working round the clock to reconnect residents of 1,600 properties in the North east who have gone over a week without central heating.

Among them was Stewart Sexton, 57, who lives with his partner in Alnwick, Northumberland. He said Northern Power grid has promised their power will be within 24 hours every day since it cut out on November 26, and the constant disappointment was ‘wearing us down’.

‘every day seems to bring a new problem,’ he added.

energy minister greg Hands said it was ‘completely unacceptable’ households were still without power, but added he had been ‘assured by network operators’ that ‘all efforts’ were being made to restore power ‘in the next day’.