Warning of “severe disruptions” as Storm Franklin hits UK: ‘Avoid travelling’ today if you can

By A Staff Reporter

LONDON Feb 21: Storm Franklin has hit the country on Monday 21st February 2022. It is the third storm to hit Britain in a week and comes days after powerful Eunice left millions without power.

Met Office has issued an amber warning for wind which could cause a ‘risk to life’ in Northern Ireland until 7am, while a milder yellow wind warning covers England, Wales and south-western Scotland from midday until 1pm.

The latest storm follows on from a week in which Storm Dudley and Storm Eunice also impacted the UK, although wind gusts from Storm Franklin are expected to be lower than Eunice which triggered two Red Weather Warnings.

Northern areas of Northern Ireland are covered by an Amber Wind Warning that will be in force from early Monday morning. Within the Amber Warning area, winds could be in excess of 80mph in exposed coastal areas, but more widely between 60 and 70mph. Damage to buildings is possible, and there’s likely travel disruption.

It will be a very windy start to Monday due to #StormFranklin

Bands of rain & showers will also be sinking south during the rush hour, & combined with the strong winds may make travel difficult in places

Warnings are in force throughout the morning so stay #WeatherAware⚠️ pic.twitter.com/wtfn5NI9NF

— Met Office (@metoffice) February 20, 2022

The Environment Agency has issued 183 warnings where ‘flooding is likely’ for locations mainly in the north and west of England, and 172 alerts where ‘flooding is possible’ for the north-western half of the UK, London and the south coast.

Good morning.

I’m afraid it’s bad news. We are strongly recommending not to travel today.

Storms over the past week will have tested the infrastructure and with Storm Franklin today, we will have severe disruption across our network.

Details via https://t.co/CRUvFOuXvE pic.twitter.com/4wVoYe6Bms

— CrossCountry trains (@CrossCountryUK) February 21, 2022