Storm Amy: man dies in Ireland as fresh weather warning issued for UK

A man has died and a fresh weather warning covers the whole of the UK as Storm Amy continues to bring widespread disruption.

Irish police said the man died in a “weather-related” incident in the Letterkenny area of County Donegal, Ireland, shortly after 4.15pm on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for wind covering the whole of the UK.

Part of the M77 was flooded in Kilmarnock, Scotland, on Friday amid Storm Amy. Photograph: Jeff Holmes JSHPIX/Shutterstock

In London all eight of the city’s royal parks, including Hyde Park and Richmond Park, are closed on Saturday because of strong winds. In a statement on its website, the Royal Parks said: “Due to severe wind gusts caused by Storm Amy, all of the royal parks, plus Brompton Cemetery and Victoria Tower Gardens will be closed on Saturday 4 October.

“This closure includes all park roads and cycleways, cafes and kiosks, parks sports venues, the Serpentine lido and boating lake, and the royal parks shop.” It said opening times on Sunday would be delayed because of safety inspections.

Storm Amy is expected to cause more issues for Scotland on Sunday after travel disruption, power cuts and floods.

The north of Scotland will face a new amber warning for damaging winds with gusts of more than 90mph in some areas.

Most of Scotland, apart from the east coast, will be covered by a yellow warning for rain while a yellow wind alert will be in place across the UK.

A new record for the deepest area of low pressure in the UK for October has also been set. Storm Amy showed central pressure of 947.9 hectopascal (hPa) at Baltasound, Shetland. The previous record was 950.9hPa in 1988.

Further travel disruption is likely to follow after several flights, rail and ferry services were cancelled.

A building collapsed in Glasgow on Friday, falling on to a car, and leading to road closures in the city centre.

Power cuts were also reported in the Highlands and a number of islands – the areas facing some of the worst weather.

Fraser Wilson, from the Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, spoke on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, where he said the network was working to restore power on Saturday morning.

He said that 100mph winds had affected power, and while some people had their power restored there were still thousands without.

He said: “Work will continue this morning to get 62,000 people reconnected. We expect, because of the extent of damage to the network and conditions we are still going to be facing today, that this will take some time, this storm is not over by any means.”

A car drives through a flooded park next to the sea on Friday during Storm Amy. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

Road closures also affected drivers and the Forth Road Bridge was shut to all traffic.

The Tay Road Bridge reopened early on Saturday with a 30mph speed restriction but remained closed to high-sided vehicles, as were the Skye Bridge, Queensferry Crossing and Clackmannanshire Bridge.

CalMac Ferries said it expected many services to be disrupted over the weekend , with many routes cancelled.

The Scottish government urged people to delay travel if they could and to check ahead if heading out.

On Sunday, the north, north-east, Orkney and Shetlands islands will also continue to fall under a yellow warning for wind until 9am that morning.

Mark Ilderton, ScotRail’s service delivery director, said there would be “considerable disruption” to train services on Saturday.

He said: “We’re sorry to customers who have been impacted by the disruption caused by Storm Amy.

“Network Rail and ScotRail teams will work flat out to recover services as quickly as possible, but considerable disruption will continue through Saturday morning.

“We’re advising customers to check their journey before they travel via the ScotRail website, mobile app, or social media feeds.”

Network Rail said the storm had had a greater impact than predicted.

The transport organisation said: “Storm Amy has hit parts of the country much harder and more quickly than expected.

“We have experienced over 60 incidents on the network during the first two hours of the storm, with flooding, trees falling on to the overhead lines and debris on the tracks.

“The safety of passengers and colleagues is priority, which is why all services to and from Glasgow Central have been suspended at this time.

“We have crews out surveying damage where it is safe to do so and we will do our best to clear lines overnight, but we do expect some disruption tomorrow morning.

“We apologise to people who were wishing to travel tonight and now need to make alternative arrangements.”

The Met Office chief forecaster, Neil Armstrong, said: “Storm Amy will be an impactful autumn storm for many in Scotland and Northern Ireland, though impacts will also spread to north-west England and Wales, as well as a more widespread windy period for the rest of the UK.

“Within the amber warning areas, damaging gusts of around 100mph are possible for a time on Friday evening for parts of western Scotland, especially Skye, Tiree, Barra and western Lochaber.

“This could lead to significant disruption, and brings the risk of power cuts and damage to buildings and trees.

“Elsewhere, gusts of 60 to 80mph are expected more widely in the amber warning areas, and slightly lower figures for those covered by yellow warnings.

“Rainfall is an additional hazard, in particular over western Scotland, where totals could exceed 30 to 50mm in six to nine hours, increasing the risk of flooding for some.

“A number of warnings have been issued covering the rainfall risk for the coming days.”